It is the mission of the Department of Commerce to make America more innovative; we collect and distribute information vital to businesses, we develop and commercialize new technologies, we make sure that our economy is a part of — not apart from — the ecosystems of this planet. But how do we improve the conduct of our own mission?

This week is Public Service Recognition Week, May 3-9, 2015. In honor of the event, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews extends his appreciation and recognizes the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees. Thank you to all government employees for the hard work you do on behalf of the American people.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews will lead a delegation of 20 American companies on a Cybersecurity Trade Mission to Bucharest, Romania, and Warsaw, Poland May 11-15, 2015. Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis Marcus Jadotte will also participate in the mission.

May is World Trade Month. Every year at this time, we acknowledge the importance of trade and investment, and reiterate our commitment to the workers and businesses that sustain our country’s competitive advantages. And given the records we achieved last year, this World Trade Month offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on how trade and investment lifts the U.S. economy.

Every year since 1963, the President has signed a proclamation declaring National Small Business Week. Today, at the eMerge Conference in the melting pot of Miami, I kicked off the week by reminding America’s entrepreneurs to “dream big, start small.”

As Colin Parris, Vice President of Software Research at General Electric, reflected on his participation in the inaugural Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC) he said, “I think CDAC can achieve (things) that could be monumental towards the growth of data in the U.S. and the relevance of the U.S. as a data power.”