One of the reasons our economy is in such rough shape is that it no longer has a strong base. Our economy is no longer built on manufacturing. Service jobs don’t provide liveable wages that allow workers to contribute to consumer demand. And our housing-based economy of the last decade was a mirage from the very beginning — it just took a while for us to find out.

For well over a decade now, we’ve just been shuffling paper. We need to start making things again. The President’s answer to that is green technology, and while I think that should be part of the solution, it doesn’t go nearly far enough. We need to make massive investments in remaking our economy for the age to come.

Old business models are dying, but nothing is replacing them. This is a perfect example of where government can step in and help us rebuild, by providing next-generation infrastructure that can lead to the creation of whole new industries. This isn’t about trying to will new industries into being — it’s about creating the conditions for entrepreneurs to bring our economy into the future.

Think of government investments in infrastructure as providing a “platform” for 21st-century business creation. What do I mean by a platform? Think of Apple’s iPhone and the billions of dollars in business it has generated. The iPhone and its operating system are a platform: a screen, a processor, speakers, sensors, and more, all wrapped up in a way that developers can use to create something entirely their own. In a way, what the government provides isn’t that different.

Of course, the scale is completely different. But think about some of the things our government provides that make our economy work: transportation, education, safety and security. Entrepreneurs don’t need to think too hard about how to move their products, or how to get trained, educated employees. They can just plug in to the system.

To spark the development of a truly advanced economy, our government needs to take the platform it offers businesses to the next level. That means a new generation of infrastructure that expands access to digital data, for both businesses and consumers.

The benefit of a high-technology infrastructure program would be three-fold. First, we’d have the immediate benefit of the money pumped into the economy by a major infrastructure program. Second, these new investments could pave the way for new industries in the decades to come. Third, they would not only make new businesses possible, they would dramatically improve the quality of life for all Americans.

So what sort of investments do I have in mind? Here are a few ideas.

High-speed broadband

A growing number of businesses today are Internet-based operations. Even those that have physical locations must have a web presence. And that’s to say nothing of the number of people who can vastly improve their access to opportunity by working remotely.

If our transportation infrastructure was key to our success in the 20th century, our internet infrastructure will be key in the 21st century. We should not be relying on private companies, who rely on a model of scarcity, to build these crucial networks.

Public sensors

This is where the metaphor of a platform, and the analogy with the iPhone, becomes a lot more literal. Access to the small number of sensors in the iPhone has allowed developers to create incredible new experiences. Just imagine the unthinkable things that could be created with a variety of new public sensors collecting data on the world around us.

Think for a moment of how much good public sensor data has already done for us. I’m thinking of two sources in particular: GPS and weather data. Both are government-run, but available to the public. And both have spawned large businesses and enormous benefits for the public.

The coming decades are going to be all about data. We should think about what new public data sources could be developed that can spawn new industries, improve existing ones, and improve our daily lives.

Biotechnology research

Okay, this isn’t really “infrastructure,” but it’s investment in the underpinnings of a technology that will eventually revolutionize our economy and our society. If you don’t believe that government-sponsored research can revolutionize the world, you need only to look back to the Internet. The impact of the Internet pales in comparison to the potential impact of biotech.

We need to massively increase our government’s investment in biotech, for three reasons. First, investment in research creates jobs just like investment in bricks and mortar — and the type of jobs that are rarely created through stimulus spending. Second, it is absolutely critical for our competitiveness that America be the epicenter of the biotech revolution. Third, we need to maintain a public stake in breakthrough biotech advances to make sure their benefits are made available to all, not just the very wealthy.

If we’re going to really fix our economy for the long term, we need to be thinking about how to rebuild our competitive advantage. The best way to do that is to innovate our way back to growth. Our government can’t take the place of entrepreneurs. But it can make massive investments in giving entrepreneurs new, cutting-edge tools with which to reinvent our economy.