The Center for the New Economy (hereinafter the "Center") is a private, non-profit, non-partisan, Puerto Rico corporation dedicated to developing economic development policies that will improve the economic well-being of Puerto Rico and its citizens. The organization is founded on the principles of a strong and progressive free enterprise economy where the vast majority, and not just those at the top, are empowered to participate, to prosper, and to be both workers and shareholders in the formal economy.

The Center understands that for policy to be responsibly developed it needs to be based on empirical data and strategic information in order to ensure not only the proper analysis and diagnosis of the issue but also to guide the formulation of the most appropriate and effective course of action. Moreover, the organization functions based on the understanding that this exercise is best undertaken in an independent, non-partisan, private sector context where creative policies can be developed through a combination of rigorous academic research and community-level innovation and practice.

The Center is committed to addressing the policy challenges of the next century by providing specific data and new insight, and by contributing practical recommendations based on that information to decision-makers in both the public and private sectors. In the process, the Center will fill the gaps between the efforts of government and the aims of the private sector, and simultaneously complement the activities of the non-profit community.

The primary goal of the Center will be to disseminate the gathered analysis and formulated policies through reports, issue briefs and a regularly published journal, including an internet version, for the consumption of the government, private and non-profit sectors. Conferences, roundtables and discussions will also serve to promote interaction and information sharing between different sectors for the optimal context within which to distill policy ideas.

The research agenda focuses on three main tracks. The first track deals with the new knowledge and information based economy and the types of policies necessary for Puerto Rico to be successful under that new economic structure. The second track deals with policies designed to incorporate the underprivileged as stakeholders and meaningful participants in the formal mainstream economy. We refer to this idea as the new paradigm of economic development and will develop it from the viewpoint that such jobs and wealth creation policies are not a matter of charity but rather strategic economic investments. The third track will include policy proposals geared to develop Puerto Rico’s non-profit sector into a dynamic center of economic activity.