REPEAT -- even more relevant now -- Dear Mr. President: Let's talk tech

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117298



Dear Mr. President: Let's talk tech
Top IT luminaries demand action from the next administration
By Gary Anthes


October 21, 2008 (Computerworld) Science and technology may not have  
been the focus of the recent debates between presidential hopefuls  
John McCain and Barack Obama, but both candidates have outlined some  
broad policy proposals and goals. That's a good thing, because, as  
some of the top technology thinkers in the United States today  
recently shared with Computeworld, the next president will have to  
tackle the country's ongoing decline in global technological  
competitiveness.

Obama says he'll "change the posture of our federal government from  
being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history  
to one that embraces science and technology." He has promised to  
double federal funding of basic research over 10 years, to appoint the  
nation's first chief technology officer, to make the R&D tax credit  
for corporations permanent and to "restore the basic principle that  
government decisions should be based on the best-available,  
scientifically valid evidence and not on the ideological  
predispositions of agency officials or political appointees."

McCain has not said directly what he might do about the level of  
federal spending on research, but he has said he favors technology- 
friendly policies aimed at the private sector through "broad pools of  
capital, low taxes and incentives for research in America...and  
streamlining burdensome regulations." He says he'd make the R&D tax  
credit permanent and set it equal to 10% of the wages a company pays  
its R&D workers, and he says he'd allow companies to write off the  
cost of new technology and equipment in the first year.

Both candidates have outlined educational reforms that they say will  
make the U.S. more competitive in science and technology.

Computerworld recently asked nine high-tech luminaries to offer their  
advice to the next U.S. president. Their answers appear below. They  
represent the views of the individuals and not necessarily those of  
their employers.



Advice by:

Henry Chesbrough

Judy Estrin

Vint Cerf

Dave Farber

Bob Kahn

Len Kleinrock

Ed Lazowska

Rick Rashid

Victor Zue








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