Presidential candidates on innovation: Clinton
Senator Hillary Clinton came out with an "Innovation Agenda" yesterday. Unlike IPac's innovation issues, her agenda focuses on government funding for scientific research, like increasing NSF and NIH grant funding, funding more alternative energy development, etc. What do you think about these issues? Do you think they are good plans or bad plans? Are there any topics in this arena IPac should also promote as part of our "innovation agenda", or should we steer clear of such issues?
Clinton does address broadband, though also from a funding standpoint:
Support initiatives to establish leadership in broadband. . . . Hillary Clinton proposes that the federal government provide tax incentives to encourage broadband deployment in underserved areas. She also proposes financial support for state and local broadband initiatives. Various municipal broadband initiatives are underway around the country to accelerate the deployment of high speed networks. The initiatives are useful for education, commerce, technology development, and the efficient provision of municipal services.
One thing she doesn't mention is how telephone companies have lobbied extensively - often successfully - to block municipal broadband. I hope Senator Clinton is opposed to such anti-innovation behavior. IPac will be pushing Senator Clinton and all Presidential candidates to talk about how we can ensure copyrights, patents, and broadband and wireless gatekeepers don't needlessly hinder innovation.
3 Comments:
Quick thoughts:
We (iPac) should be about protecting and expanding the technical and social prerequisites for innovation, not what gets innovated. We should be for ubiquitous, cheap, broadband connectivity, however it can be accomplished.
So, we'd be for efforts to spread connectivity to under-served areas and we'd be for municipal WiFi and building up the infrastructure for eventual WiMAX. We'd be for widening the upload bandwidth for distributed computational projects and load-sharing (torrent-type) media distribution.
We would not try to promote projects for NSF and NIH grants, but support expansion of public funding for basic science, generally.
It should probably be noted that her campaign has accepted contributions from both the RIAA and MPAA.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-america/contact-information-for-50-politicians-who-take-campaign-money-from-the-riaa-264638.php
http://www.fonz.net/blog/archives/2007/06/02/mpaa-contributions-to-congressional-candidates-in-2006-elections/
I need a little help here. What does the Government classify as "underserved" Is it cities under 50000? Is it towns under 500? Also, where are these towns and cities identified so that a communications provider like myself can concentrate on them?
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