The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is an advisory group of leading scientists and engineers in the US who advise the President. Last week, PCAST released a report [full report (pdf)] providing an updatedĀ assessment of networking and information technology (“NIT”) R&D activity under the supervision of the US Government.
the report cites notable steps forward in multi-agency work to advance ābig data,ā health IT, robotics, and cybersecurity, and calls out significant progress toward creating infrastructure for network scaling and NIT testbeds.
The report also notes that many important areas have received less attention and investment than is needed, making recommendations for stronger coordination among agencies to meet continuing NIT challenges in educational technology, data privacy, energy, transportation, and other important sectors.
Cynically, one might expect a report to call for more investment in a number of areas. After all, acceptance of such recommendations will direct funds to the types of institutions that employ the members of the advisory board.
However, there was a recommendation that caught my eye. Under the heading of Government Leadership, the advisory board called for the National Science and Technology Council “to lead in bringing about the education of more children and adults in NIT [Networking and Information Technology], both through the efforts of its Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education in multi-agency programs to provide workers with skills in topics of importance to national priorities and in the creation of opportunities for high-quality continuing education in NIT.”
Getting more children and adults educated in digital technologies is part of developing the leadership of the future.
Skills development is a critical piece of a digital strategy. Nearly every job has a digital component – or it will soon – as I wrote in a blog post called “Menial no more“.
A digital strategy is moreĀ about setting our sights toward a better future. Will Canada ever see a statement setting out a national digital vision?