In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of FWD.us, a new organization founded by leaders of the nation’s technology community to focus on advocating a bipartisan policy agenda to build the "knowledge economy" the United States needs to ensure more jobs, innovation and investment:

• Comprehensive immigration reform that begins with effective border security, allows a path to citizenship and lets us attract the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born.
• Higher standards and accountability in schools, support for good teachers and a much greater focus on learning about science, technology, engineering and math.
• Investment in breakthrough discoveries in scientific research and assurance that the benefits of the inventions belong to the public and not just to the few

The leadership behind FWD.us is comprised of some heavy Silicon Valley hitters, including Reid Hoffman, Eric Schmidt, and Marissa Mayer, just to name a few. Here are some highlights from the op-ed piece:

• "We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world."

• "Today’s economy is very different. It is based primarily on knowledge and ideas -- resources that are renewable and available to everyone."

• "In fact, the more people who know something, the better educated and trained we all are, the more productive we become, and the better off everyone in our nation can be."

• "In a knowledge economy, the most important resources are the talented people we educate and attract to our country. A knowledge economy can scale further, create better jobs and provide a higher quality of living for everyone in our nation."

• "To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most talented and hardest-working people. We need to train and attract the best."

~ Mark Zuckerberg

What are your thoughts on immigration reform as it relates to the startups and the tech industry? Will you be joining FWD.us?

This post was originally featuerd on FounderCode.com

Source: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg: Immigration and the knowledge economy