ITIF REMAINS A THOUGHT-LEADER ON BROADBAND

Last week the Information Technology Industry Foundation (ITIF) held a symposium on "innovation Economics," and recently explained in Business Week.

Proof of just how good ITIF's work has been, and how respected its founder Rob Atkinson is, could be seen in the 400+ attendees who participated in a series of thoughtful panels and discussions.  Despite significant events in economic markets, some of the nation's best economists chose to attend ITIF's half-day forum even without a free lunch.

I was asked to sit on the final panel of the day, discussing the policy agenda needed for the next Administration to reinvigorate American competitiveness and innovation-led growth.  All panelists - Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, agreed that America needs an aggressive National Broadband Strategy to advance this critical infrastructure.  While panelists differ in their means to achieve the end, all agreed that the federal government must be more strategic and focused on the essential objective of universal broadband.

Atkinson and ITIF articulated this, among other policy recommendations, in a paper that is worth reading.  On behalf of IIA, I echoed this call and offered several areas where policy will make an immediate and needed difference, such as deployment credits and digital literacy.  ITIF remains a group worth watching, and the calls for a National Broadband Strategy continue to crescendo.