Tech industry hopes for more certainty in 2012

A year after President Obama called for the United States to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build" the rest of the world in his 2011 State of the Union speech, the tech industry sees more to be done to get the economy back on track. On the top of many companies' lists are issues like research and development tax credits, competitive tax reform, cloud computing, cybersecurity, spectrum, privacy, and intellectual property and copyright protection.

In his 2011 speech to Congress, President Obama pointed to technology as key to reinvigorating American innovation. "In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It is how we make our living," President Obama said, citing Google and Facebook by name.

A year later, many tech industry leaders are bracing for continued ups and downs in the economy. "The two steps forward, one step backward pattern experienced during much of 2011 has conditioned many businesses to expect a dose of bad news with any good news," said Tim Herbert, vice president of the IT trade group CompTIA. "Among IT firms, concerns about weak consumer and corporate demand; downward pressure on margins; access to capital; and government regulation continue to weigh on business confidence." CompTIA released its IT Industry Outlook 2012, which expressed "tempered optimism" about the coming year.