IBM Chairman and CEO Samuel Palmisano was among top technology executives and other business leaders meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, where Obama expressed confidence his $825 billion economic stimulus plan would pass.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy and Motorola CEO Greg Brown were also participating in the Washington meeting, according to the White House.
During the meeting, Obama reiterated his plan to pour billions into tech initiatives, including bolstered health-care IT and the improving of nationwide broadband access and energy grids. In prepared remarks, Palmisano called the investments "smart infrastructure" for how they'll stimulate economic growth, catalyze more contracts and revenue and therefore create almost one million new jobs within a year.
Big Blue's chief suggested the difference between a Band-Aid-style stimulus and actual problem solving is the package's ability to create instead of "simply stimulate."
"There is no reason to undertake projects simply for the sake of activity," Palmisano said. "Rather than simply stimulate, let's seize this opportunity to transform our country's infrastructure and economy ... to create more and better jobs ... and to develop new and more valuable skills."
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Palmisano pushed for $10 billion a year in government funds to make the national grid more efficient with better technology.
"Our country must compete in a world that isn't just getting smaller and 'flatter,' but is also becoming smarter," Palmisano said. "Intelligence is being infused into the infrastructures, systems and processes that enable economies and societies to run."
According to the White House, other executives joining Obama, Palmisano and the other tech leaders during the meeting were John Bryson, retired CEO of Edison International; David Cote, CEO of Honeywell; Debra Lee, CEO of BET Holdings; Wendell Weeks, CEO of Corning; Steve Appleton, CEO of Micron Technology; Ron Williams, CEO of Aetna; David Barger, CEO of Jet Blue; and Antonio Perez, CEO of Eastman Kodak.
"The message has to be that the situation is dire," said Cote during his remarks. "With some small exceptions, no company is immune."
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