U.S. CTO seeks public-private partnerships

The Obama administration is eager to form public-private partnerships with telecom service providers to address critical societal issues such as improving health care IT and medical care, distance learning and better education, and more open government, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer, said Thursday in a SUPERCOMM keynote. Chopra also asked for the telecom industry’s help in bringing the U.S. back up to speed with the rest the world in embracing technology and innovation.

Chopra opened his speech by citing one such partnership, orchestrated “with one phone call” during his tenure as secretary of technology with the state of Virginia. “It was Cox and Comcast cable that offered to carry GED classes for free on their on-demand platform, making those available to thousands upon thousands of Virginians,” Chopra said. “That’s the kind of public-private partnerships we envision.”

Many of the administration’s initiatives assume a robust and healthy telecom infrastructure, Chopra added, and telecom service providers are playing “a critical role in developing the much more modernized infrastructure” that will help drive the U.S. economy forward.

The U.S. is actually falling behind other nations of the world in embracing technology and innovation, Chopra warned. He cited research from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, released last February, which showed the U.S. is dead-last among the 40 companies covered by the survey in the speed at which it is moving toward “the new knowledge-based innovation economy.”

The same research ranked the U.S. 22nd in progress toward e-government and 15th in higher education, Chopra said.

“We as a nation are at our best when we invest in the building blocks of innovation, and that will require a robust, smart, secure infrastructure,” Chopra said. In addition to committing $150 billion to R&D, the Obama administration is investing in human capital, as well, promoting initiatives to improve science, technology, equipment and math education. 

Chopra told the audience that as the first U.S. CTO, he brings “the voice of technology and innovation to the main table, side by side with the economic team and the teams focused on energy and health care. I am one of the 25 assistants that gather regularly, and I make sure the voice of technology and innovation is heard in areas that might not be considered top of mind.”

In many areas, such as health care, changing policies and rules are creating greater opportunities for telecom service providers of which they might not be aware. For example, recent Medicare rules punishing hospitals whose patients “rebound” — end up back in the hospital within 30 days of being discharged following surgery or other treatment — will no doubt increase the demand for remote monitoring of discharged patients in their homes, Chopra said.

Chopra didn’t mention the net neutrality initiative announced, even as he was speaking in Chicago, by Obama’s FCC in Washington and opposed by many telecom service providers as unnecessary government intrusion into the operation of the Internet.