Intellectual Property Law

Innovation to Dominate Communications Policy Agenda

By Cynthia Brumfield

If there was any question that technological innovation will come to dominate the communications politics and policy agenda over the coming four years, yesterday's news that Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be stumping for Obama put all doubts to rest. Schmidt is even rumored to be angling for the job of U.S. Chief Technology Officer, the new cabinet level post that Obama has promised to create.

Other rumored candidates for the job include high-tech visionairies and leaders such as Vint Cerf, Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos and Princeton's Ed Felten. Whoever gets the job, Computerworld has this excellent run-down of recommendations to the next president from tech luminaries (one of whom is Cerf), who advise the President to step-up science and tech education, spend more on R&D, reorient DARPA away from short-term war-related goals and toward long-term research and generally make science and innovation a new priority.

Not since John Kennedy has technological innovation and progress received as high a profile in a presidential election, which is a sure bet that come January, this town will be awash with great scientists and innovators. One upshot could be that the stranglehold that attorneys have held on communications policy, particularly at the FCC (where turgid, mind-numbing rulemakings of the highest legalistic order are standard), could be loosened to let in more forward-looking concepts that actually spur true technological innovations.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).