Like the cute, dimpled Most Popular fourth-grader, the tech industry is getting handfuls of loving Valentine's Day wishes today. After all, as our friend and political consultant Dan Schnur, once said, "No politician wants to be against the future."
And, as was impossible to miss at the World Economic Forum in Davos, most country leaders word-dropped "innovation" nearly every other sentence. Closer to home, the Rs and the Ds are making like jocks versus skaters as they compete for the heart of Miss Innovation.
Randy Barrett has the world from the Hill, in today's National Journal Tech Daily People Column (subscription required). Here's a very generous excerpt:
The technology industry always wanted respect in power town, but its policy goals now are set to become the proverbial football in a star-studded political bash-a-thon on Capitol Hill this week.
The rumble has been brewing for some time, but since President Bush noted the connection between basic research, innovation and technology in his State of the Union speech last month, there is now an all-out war between Democrats and Republicans to claim patrimony of the issue.
If success has many fathers, these dads -- and moms -- are none too keen on each other. That makes for an awkward family portrait.
Scowling in one corner stands House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who is clearly peeved that Democrats have managed to get on the tech policy bandwagon at all. Smiling happily in the other is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is busy offering the Republicans an olive branch after successfully co-opting the turf in record time.
"This is not a partisan issue," Pelosi wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial Monday. "For more than a year, Democrats have been working with leaders in business and the academic community from across the country and across the ideological spectrum to put together our innovation agenda."
On Tuesday, Team Pelosi is scheduled to trot out newly minted National Medal of Technology winner George Lucas in a town-hall-style meeting in the basement of the Capitol. The celebrated "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" film director will talk about the "need to create a new generation of innovators that reflects the diversity of our country," a statement from Pelosi said.
On Wednesday, House Republicans are scheduled to hold their own tech confab in the same room. All the marquee heavies will be there, including Hastert, new Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.
The big question is whether all of tech suitors will offer a Craker Jack ring with a promise of more to come or the real deal. The industry would trade all the schmoopie talk for the passage of the National Innovation Act. See this TechNet release for more on it.
On Wednesday, House Republicans are scheduled to hold their own tech confab in the same room. All the marquee heavies will be there, including Hastert, new Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.
Posted by: Coach Handbags | May 25, 2011 at 07:44 PM
One of the late blooming azealas.This is my first post for Today's Flowers in quite a while, though, certainly not by choice (broken shutter). It feels good to be back.
Posted by: Endi | May 30, 2012 at 07:28 PM
Ken, Thank you for your note. This forum is fast approaching. Here is the lastet line up: Morning Forum Roundtable (11 am EDT)Renee Hopkins Callahan, IdeaFlowChuck Frey, InnovationToolsJeffrey Phillips, Innovate on PurposeDave Pollard, How to Save the WorldAfternoon Forum Roundtable (2 pm EDTDominic Basulto, Endless InnovationSanjay Dalal, Creativity And Innovation Driving BusinessMark McGuinness, Wishful Thinking (JUST ADDED!)Joyce Wycoff, Heads Up! on Organizational Innovation
Posted by: Gustavo | July 06, 2012 at 11:45 AM