Federal Gov't ICT research and impact on economy and society

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[Some excellent papers and presentations from US Congressional hearing on
Federal Information Technology Research and Development.  Ed Lazowska's
testimony, in particular, is well worth reading. Some key points from his
testimony from Dave Farber's IPer list- BSA]

- Advances in information technology (IT) are changing our lives, driving
our economy, and transforming the conduct of science.
- Essentially every aspect of IT upon which we rely today - every
billion-dollar sub-category of the IT industry bears the clear stamp of
federally-supported university-based research. These relatively modest
investments
have played an essential role in the past, and will play an essential role
in the future. 
- Don't confuse the IT industry's research and development (R&D)
expenditures with fundamental research that's guiding our way to the future.
The vast majority of corporate R&D in IT - far more than 95% - involves the
engineering of the next version of the product. This "development" is
essential. But the transforming ideas come from research. IT companies do
very little of that. It is a natural and essential role of government to
support fundamental research - R&D that looks out 5, 10, or 15 years, rather
than just one product cycle.
- IT systems constitute the "control loop" of most other elements of our
nation's critical infrastructure (e.g., the electric power grid, the air
traffic control grid, the financial grid, the telecommunications
grid), and constitute a significant vulnerability.
- The track record is clear: the relatively modest federal IT R&D investment
pays enormous dividends: changing our lives, driving our economy, and
transforming the conduct of science.

http://reform.house.gov/TIPRC/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=1187

  "Defining Federal Information Technology Research and Development: 
Who? Where? What? Why? and How Much?"
  This Hearing was Originally Scheduled on June 9, 2004


From: Ed Lazowska <[email protected]>
Date: July 10, 2004 10:50:35 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: 7/7 House hearing on IT R&D

Dave,

IPers might be interested in my one-page "oral testimony" and associated
charts; the formal written testimony from these hearings, distributed on IP
yesterday, is always hard to slog through.

http://lazowska.cs.washington.edu/Lazowska_July7.pdf




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