Innovation at America - Keynote a PanIIT 2009 by Aneesh Chopra (CTO of US Govt)

Posted by Vineet Bansal

at October 10, 2009

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Keynote by Aneesh Chopra (CTO, US Govt.)

An eventful first day is followed by better weather and even bigger audience. The day kicks off with Mr. Sudhakar Shenoy introducing our keynote speaker Mr. Aneesh Chopra, CTO, US government. He is the first person to hold any such position and has been doing a commendable job since inception of his task.

He starts with an overview of the Obama administration and establishes the fact that the main motive of Obama administration is “Excellence” in every field. Emphasizing the importance of Technology in innovations, Mr. Aneesh quotes that $100 Billion out of $800 Billion economic stimulus was dedicated to infrastructure for technology.

United States has been lagging behind other nations in terms of benchmark indicators such as development in E-government, Higher Education and other metrics calculated to compare global competitiveness. US is growing but a far lesser rate than other countries. What is the response of United States to these benchmark indicators?

Three policies have been identified as of utmost priority:
a) Invest in the building blocks of innovation- building smarter infrastructure
b) Promote innovation for national priorities – Promote R&D collaboration
c) Instill an open government structure – Prepare 21st Century Workforce and providing access to government data to all to utilize that data and build more monitoring applications which will make the quality of life better. By opening up key areas of government to public will catalyze the entrepreneurs and help them to make the administration hear their voice.

Talking about policy making is easy but implementing it is the key. Citing an example of the USCIS website, Mr. Aneesh says that this government is capable and wiling to fulfill their promises. After promising improvement in the customer services department of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services website, within 90 days the government achieved what they had promised.

With a more fulfilling government, he calls to all the people in the hall to identify the hidden opportunities and talent in various pockets of the society and introduce them to the platform instilled by the government to nurture such aspirations.