Aneesh Chopra, President Barak Obama's newly installed chief technology officer, Thursday said that while the U.S. is experiencing growth in some areas, it still lags far behind other countries in technology development.
Addressing a crowd at the Consumer Electronics Association conference, held in New York, Chopra said that America is perceived as a place of entrepreneurial capitalism, but it ranked "dead last" in terms of technological "change and innovation" that was measured in 40 countries.
Part of the problem, according to Chopra, is that only 40 percent of Americans have a college degree. Chopra did not cite the origin of the research for either statement.
"We've stood still while the rest of the world has surpassed us or caught up to us," Chopra said. "As CTO, it is incumbent on me to achieve the president's goals to harness technology. Please hold me accountable on that."
Chopra said that even with the government's $787 billion stimulus package, it needed help from the public sector.
"We will bring all stakeholders to the table to have this discussion," he said. "We want to have a platform for economic growth."
Chopra also spoke about "pillars" or areas that he believes will help drive technology innovation.
Those pillars include harnessing the potential for economic growth as well as identifying key priorities in the country, including health-care reform, energy and the education pipeline.
Building trust and confidence with consumers so that they feel that the nation's infrastructure is secure is another pillar. A fourth pillar is applying the concept of what he called "Retail 2.0" to the government. Chopra said that by using the "same nomenclature" that online retailers use, the government could be aided in programs such as unemployment claims.
Chopra reiterated that he really does want the public to weigh in on his performance and is in the process of creating a scorecard to measure his efforts. He also is starting a blog about his initiatives, and is inviting public participation.
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