Obama urges investment in high-tech education

President Obama speaks in Troy, N.Y., about his high-tech education investment plan.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama on Monday pushed his plans to make the nation's economy more stable in the future by investing in education for high-tech industries.

The president unveiled a new "innovation strategy" that builds on $100 billion of economic stimulus funds to support entrepreneurship, education, infrastructure and other investments.

The plan aims to make the U.S. economy more competitive and help prevent volatile "boom and bust" cycles in the future, Obama said.

"As we emerge from this economic crisis, our great challenge will be to ensure that we do not simply drift into the future, accepting less for our children and less for America," Obama told students at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y. "Instead, we must choose to do what past generations have done: shape a brighter future through hard work and innovation."

Obama said improving the nation's education system is a key component of the strategy. "We know that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow," he said.

To that end, Obama touted his administration's efforts to make college more affordable by increasing government grants, simplifying student aid applications and updating the GI Bill.

He praised a bill making its way through Congress that would boost federal student aid further and effectively end the government's practice of subsidizing private lenders of student loans.

Obama also reiterated his call for increased investment in green energy technology, electronic health records, manufacturing advanced vehicles and expanding the nation's broadband Internet network.

The president also pointed to proposed tax cuts and trade policies his administration has persued as ways to make U.S. companies more competitive and prosperous.

"Our strategy begins where innovation so often does: in the classroom and in the laboratory -- and in the networks that connect them to the broader economy," Obama said. "These are the building blocks of innovation: education, infrastructure, and research."