Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness

Congress must seriously address the decline in highly-skilled talent and our nation's declining competitiveness with respect to other world economies. Innovation and competitiveness must be a national priority, and education in the math and sciences must play a key role in our plan in order to fuel the entrepreneurial spirit and train future generations for even greater success. We need to lure engineers and scientists to join the ranks of America's educators, and we must increase scholarships and financial assistance for those who pursue these important fields.

Close the digital divide. I am troubled by the prolonged digital divide in America and I believe Congress should work to ensure that all individuals in America have access to broadband networks by 2010. While this sounds unattainable, there are several feasible opportunities available to expand broadband penetration, and some projects that are already underway. First, Congress should make more of the "unlicensed spectrum" available - those portions of the public airwaves not exclusively reserved for government or commercial use. Opening up some of this spectrum would make Community Internet Systems much faster and cheaper to deploy, and allow a new generation of broadband entrepreneurs to enter the market. Second, Congress must stand-up to the telecommunications monopolies and protect innovative projects like Wireless Philadelphia, a non-profit organization that aims to provide wireless service to all parts of the city through public-private partnerships. To that end, I would support legislation that creates incentives for communities to build advanced telecommunications networks, creating greater competition for communications services and spurring innovation. I would also support public-private partnerships which assist in the development of efficient means of deploying broadband access to low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities.

Increase competition. Without competition and incentives for distribution, innovation in broadband deployment has stalled. And the costs of this failure are high. A study conducted by the Brookings Institution estimated the widespread adoption of basic broadband could add $500 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.2 million new jobs per year. Moreover, expanding broadband access to rural and low-income areas, thus closing the digital divide, is also critical to reducing poverty. Efforts to improve rural health and education, generate jobs or address any of the other inter-related problems of poverty, all require access to digital networks. While the guarantee of broadband technology is certainly not a quick-fix solution to poverty, ensuring that underserved individuals and communities can access education and tools to improve the quality of their lives is an important part of a holistic, long-term solution.