Identifying Priorities and Action Items
Western High Tech Council Luncheon
May 31, 2000

On Wednesday, May 31, WGA hosted a luncheon in Denver to discuss the organization and priorities for the Western High Technology Council. Governor Geringer chaired the luncheon, which included over 30 representatives of Western governors and high technology firms. Prior to the luncheon, four possible priorities had been identified for the Council: workforce development; affordable high speed access and connectivity across the West; advancing e-governance; and shared development of content for state e-learning activities. This summary contains ideas and points made by participants during the luncheon.

These four items and other issues raised during the luncheon will be provided to the governors to help them prepare for their discussions on the Council at the WGA Annual Meeting. Following the annual meeting, a set of priorities and an action plan will be developed and shared with the Council members and prospective members. Council members and prospective members will then be encouraged to join working groups to address the priorities identified for action.

Governor Geringer concluded the meeting by announcing that Mr. Michael D. Capellas, President and CEO of Compaq Computer Corporation; and Mr. Steven R. Appleton, Chairman, CEO and President of Micron Technology, Inc. will participate on the Council. They join Intel Corporation, SGI, The Morrison Institute at Arizona State University, the Millken Institute, and WGA as members.

Following is a list of issues raised at the meeting.

Recruitment and development of employees is critical.

Talent is needed. This is not necessarily a labor shortage, but a skill shortage. How do we retool, reteach, retrain both the public and private labor forces?

One third of all jobs are in transition because they are being created or being phased out as obsolete.

The region needs to provide more and better technology training for teachers so they can incorporate high tech into their curriculum.

Focus should be on K-20 education, if not lifetime learning.

Need to encourage more females and minorities.

Math and science education is needed at earlier ages.

Western states need to deploy technology and universal bandwidth access to ensure every child has the same educational opportunities regardless of where they live. Distance from libraries, museums and other educational institutions should not be an obstacle any more.

Closing last gap for rural customers B last mile connectivity for high speed access B is not just an issue for consumers. Businesses are creating and will create new products that can be sold using that access. States sometimes can act as anchor tenants for these services to rural areas.

Bandwidth capability is extremely important and both rural areas and some inner-city, urban areas do not have access.

We need to think outside the box to get rapid deployment of high speed access.

Government and education need to use the Internet more efficiently.

Create Internet portals for services to citizens, consolidating by function so citizens don=t get lost among agencies. Use them as a tool to integrate and interpret local, state and federal information and services to the citizen. A lot of options exist to integrate vertically and horizontally as a cost containment/efficiency tool. The Internet allows government to deliver more services with the money and people we have.

States need to share data and not try to invent something unique for every problem. Use best practices model, which helps all states, and rely on WGA, NGA, NASIRE & NASTD.

Successful governments should use technology to reorganize internal processes. The Internet is integral, but a home page is not the place to stop. Business processes, internally and externally, should look like the Web and we should question why we are conducting activities rather than just trying to transfer them to the Web site.

Look for how government can outsource procurement and services when its more cost effective.

Remember that what happens in the U.S. affects international opportunities and positions on market access and regulation of technologies and services.

Consider creation of state venture capital funds. To start the process, states may want to consider use of state funds to stimulate matching funds. Government may also be able to stimulate and encourage Aangel@ investment community, which provides seed capital for new start-ups.

Look at state tax deductions for businesses to stimulate scholarship program contributions for technology, engineering and science students.

Biotechnology is an important player and should not be eclipsed by the current interest in information technology. The human genome signals the advent of tremendous advances in biotechnology and health technology.

Be careful how you go about protecting personal privacy. Don=t foreclose useful exchanges of personal data for medical research or other important purposes. It is important to undersatnd differences between kinds of data and information, e.g. medical and consumer data.

Examine state and intra-state legal issues that prevent e-governance and e-commerce from moving forward.

Many benefits of e-governance and e-commerce can be realized in the West if smaller states can aggregate purchasing power thereby realize taxpayer savings.

Page last updated 06/02/2000