The Obama Administration recently announced that a group of media, nonprofit and Internet movers and shakers will help them jump start their innovation agenda for a "21st century government."
The Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group, composed of 30 people, will, according to Obama's website Change.gov, help his administration implement an "Innovation Agenda" for a more "open and effective" form of government.
Members of the Working Group include former employees of Google, the Federal Communications Commission, the Center for American Progress, and various other non-profit, telecommunication, media, and business and civil service areas.
Specifically, the group will strive to make better use of technology to stimulate the economy; create job growth, renew the country's commitment to science, reinvigorate citizenry to become more socially and culturally active and to solve pressing national problems such as reducing health care costs, quality education, and clean air.
The working group stems from Obama's "Innovation Agenda," initially unveiled as a policy statement in November 2007 during a visit at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. There, Obama discussed how technology and innovation would play a part in his administration's policy decisions to keep Americans informed and connected, and to make government data and dealings more transparent and open to public comment.
Comments on Obama's innovation plan, when they were first announced in 2007, were mostly positive, especially from those who support network neutrality, government access, and improving health care through the use of technology.
William Kennard, a former Chairman of the FCC stated that "the [innovation] plan recognizes that technology is not an end in itself, but a means to improve education and health care, create jobs and make America safer."
Beth Noveck, a law professor at the New York Law School likes that the agenda "ensure
that citizens have the right and ability to make use of information from the [U.S.] government to empower themselves."
Since the announcement of the Working Group members, skepticism has crept into the comments of some in the tech and business community.
Navi Radjou from the Harvard Business Review agrees with Obama that increasing innovation will help the ailing U.S. economy. Yet, he adds that "pumping more dollars into national research projects" won't make America more competitive" and that the idea of "linking innovation and national competitiveness" is an "outdated model" that will hurt the economy.
James Todhunter, the Chief Information Officer for PC World magazine, believes that it will be a while before we will see anything technologically substantive from the Working Group.
Given the background of the members, Todhunter says that the public will see some "interesting approaches to revamping how government interfaces with the people," but that "in the area where we need it most, building the innovation capacity of America as a participant in the Global arena, we are most likely going to be treated to a variety of the same old tired recipes: a bit of cheer leading, a smattering of funding haphazardly sprinkled about, and lot of hoping that if you simply talk about being innovative we will somehow be more innovative."
What is the next move for the Working Group and its Innovation Agenda? Unfortunately not much else is available on the Group's task-at-hand, except what is listed on the change.gov website. It's probably safe to say that the government innovation that Americans have been clamoring for will have to wait until after January 20, 2009.
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