I think what he means is, and I agree, they way capitalism work, if you want to keep your nation healthy and rich as it was in the past, you can't expect to do it without continuous innovation. The wold economy landscape has changed, it's changing and it will keep changing. U.S.A. have become a global power (among other less noble reasons) because they build cars when other countries still earned their living with agriculture, and computers when other countries still earned their living building cars (that is just an example, obviously).
Study a bit the history of economy and capitalism, look outside of your country to see which other western countries had and keep having a good economy today, and what measures they have taken to maintain their status and you will see it's true.
That there are all those millennials that would work in manufacturing while your nation offer so many better alternatives, better in term of salaries, quality of life etc., it's part of the problem. And that's something China understands very well, Europe universities are full of Chinese scientist and researchers in any discipline, with their salaries founded by the Chinese government and institutions, because they know they can't rely on manufacturing forever. If your country strategy is to go back to manufacturing, prepare to become a Chinese colony in the future.
