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Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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June 15, 1999 IBM's Gerstner: Let's Close The "Digital Divide" There's a revolution going on and it's not just about technology, IBM's CEO Louis Gerstner told lawmakers yesterday in Washington. "We're probably about five years into a 30-year cycle of transformation that comes along once every 100 years or more and changes all existing models in profound and permanent ways," Gerstner said at the Joint Economic Committee's National Summit on High Technology. "It's our best hope to close the 'digital divide' exists today between the rich and the poor. And it will exert new pressures on existing geopolitical structures." Many high-tech CEOs are in the nation's capital this week to participate in the summit, which is looking at the high-tech spawned economy and what lawmakers can do to promote it. High-tech execs say they want a research and development tax credit for encouraging innovation, and they want public officials to fix U.S. public education--a point for which Gerstner saved his most impassioned remarks. "Just as surely as a high-quality education--or the lack of one--can separate people, it will also separate winners and losers in the global networked economy," Gerstner said. State and local governments are responsible for 92% of education funding, but the 8% the federal government pays can be targeted to high standards, measurements, and accountability, Gerstner said. He suggested the federal portion be tied to school districts that perform. U.S. companies, Gerstner said, spend a large portion of the $1 billion annually to train employees on remedial education. --Mary Mosquera, TechWeb |
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