“Building Back Better” Requires Building In Digital

Any national infrastructure package should include 21st century digital infrastructure—not only investments in core digital infrastructure, such as broadband and government IT systems, but also hybrid-digital upgrades to existing physical infrastructure to improve its performance. There is an array of areas any infrastructure bill should target to ensure digital infrastructure deployment.

• Broadband infrastructure in rural areas is critical and the investment should focus first and foremost on unserved areas.24 This should include support for both fixed and mobile broadband.
• With the need for increased resiliency of the electric grid, any package should include significant investments to modernize, expand, secure, and digitize it. This should include well-funded pilot programs to integrate and test IT technologies on the grid in particular locations.
• Because the U.S. lags behind other nations in the development of smart cities, any package should include a nationwide smart cities program to help cities and towns use digital technologies to improve operations and quality of life.25 In addition, it should fund pilot programs to support smart farms, smart factories, smart health care, smart buildings (especially federal buildings), and other systems upgraded by connected sensors and analytics.
• The initiative should include funding for states to upgrade physical infrastructure, such as water, waste systems, and roads and bridges. It should ensure that funding can be spent on hybrid digital technology solutions, including using funds to upgrade cybersecurity measures.
• Funds should be allocated to ensure all communities, no matter their race or zip code, have access to next-generation supercomputing and quantum computing.26
• Any package should include significant funding to help local, state, and national government agencies upgrade legacy and outdated IT systems, including but not limited to investing in cloud-based IT systems that offer both secure, mobile-friendly online services to government customers, and remote work capabilities for employees and contractors.