Tim Bajarin

[Commentary] In a recent piece I wrote for Fast Company, I outlined my involvement with a council of independent tech influencers that helped shape President Bush’s tech agenda. In the article, I suggested some of the types of councils I believe President Trump needs to help him understand tech and, more importantly, use them to help develop a tech agenda of his own that would benefit his economic goals and get these companies to help support an agenda that moves our industry forward. I believe working with Trump in a civil, proactive manner should be the goal of every tech company, but not kowtowing to him because he bullied them into some action. The tech industry needs the resolve to stand up against any bully pulpit, and only do what is right for them to grow their market. Anything less than that won’t have a lasting impact on them or our industry.

[Tim Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies Inc.]

[Commentary] Ideally, President-elect Donald Trump would form at least four tech councils focused on key issues impacting tech’s future. These councils would be used to help him develop a tech policy that advances the role of tech as a key part of our economic growth. They would work to create an environment where innovation can happen without excessive regulation. They would also look at how the job market of the future will be impacted by artificial intelligence and robots, and propose educational reforms to prepare a new kind of workforce.

1) Education reform
2) Immigration reform
3) Telecom and networking: New 5G technology will be a major economic driver in the coming years. It will create fast wireless broadband networks destined to deliver new forms of high-speed connectivity that will impact any connected digital service. The council would advise Trump on the technology and its effects. It would help the administration develop policies that help the companies building the networks, and keep them free of stiffer regulations or negative laws. This would help bring broad deployment of 5G networks to most of the US by 2020-2022.
4) The Future of transportation

[Tim Bajarin is president of the research and consulting firm Creative Strategies.]

[Commentary] For smart cities and smart cars to succeed, a legal framework needs to exist to undergird the technology. Officials will have to understand how the new technology will impact every corner of their state. States will have to create new rules of the road for autonomous and self-driving vehicles on all streets and highways. And federal officials at all government agencies will deal with unprecedented levels of tech integration in their areas of governance. They will need to understand next-generation technology and its ramifications as they’re asked to regulate a world where technology must be applied equally and fairly within their purview.

Unless our elected officials become more tech-savvy, they will only slow down the role technology will play in their cities, states, and the broader US. We will need our legislators at all levels to grasp how technology will impact their constituents so that they can make laws that work for everyone.

[Bajarin is President at Creative Strategies, Inc]