Through the weekend, Diane Francis wrote in the National Post about the intent of President-elect Barack Obama to create an office for the Chief Technology Officer of the United States.
The plan is to deal with centralizing the support of technology of all kinds: environmental, scientific, engineering, medical and more, including an objective of doubling the number of engineering graduates from 60,000 a year within half a generation.
Although her article suggests naming Stanford academic Lawrence Lessig, other articles [such as e-Week here and CNET here] have touted a list of people with strong business credentials along with some names with background in moving Washington machinery.
It makes you wonder whether such a position should be considered here on either a national or provincial level or both.
Consider the diversity of departments in Ontario that have an economic development mandate. Why was the latest round of broadband subsidy operated under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), instead of Economic Development or Northern Development & Mines – any of which could have an equal claim of responsibility and may have more institutional experience in communications technology. Citizens shouldn’t be left to wonder if much more than a coin toss was used to determine where responsibility for a program fits.
In the CNET article, James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was cautious about filling the CTO position.
We’ve seen lots of times where people have brought in gurus from the high-tech community, and they give up after a year because they’re frustrated. Knowing how the government works is important.
Even so, CNET quotes Lewis saying that implementing technology policy cannot be left to policy wonks from Washington without industry advice.
How would a CTO in Obama’s cabinet affect Canadian technology policy?
Under our system of appointing ministers, an office of the CTO isn’t likely to enjoy a seat at the cabinet table. Still, who would be your choice as the top technology leader and advisor in Canada? And what should be their first priorities?
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CTO, Barack Obama