Laptop in Every Backpack

I just completed my panel, Science and Innovation For Sustainable Growth, at the Progressive Governance down here in Chile and want to quickly report in on an inspirational presentation which helped kick off the panel.  Miguel Brechner, President of the Technology Laboratory of Uruguay, made a presentation about a wildly ambitious program in Uruguary to provide all school children, aged 6-12, with the Negroponte one laptop per child wireless computer.  As a co-author, with Alec Ross, of a paper calling for similar committment here in the US, I of course was thrilled. 

The results so far, a year into the program, have been amazing.  Here is a link to more dated powerpoint presentation Miguel gave last year.  I will be providing links to more when Miguel gets me them.  He is traveling to DC in June and I hope to build an event where he can talk of this program's early and very encouraging success.  

With President Obama's budget calling for a $100 billion new investment in education, I hope he and his team will see fit to at launch least a serious demonstration project of this idea. It would be tragic if countries like Libya and Uruguay put a laptop in the hands of all their kids before the United States.

More soon from this terrific conference.

The text: 

As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and
friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we
mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great
and growing challenges—challenges that threaten our nation’s economy
and our dreams for the future.  Nearly two million Americans have lost
their jobs this past year—and millions more are working harder in jobs
that pay less and come with fewer benefits.  For too many families,
this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts
continue to mount and parents worry that their children won’t have the
same opportunities they had.

However we got here, the problems we face today are not Democratic
problems or Republican problems. The dreams of putting a child through
college, or staying in your home, or retiring with dignity and security
know no boundaries of party or ideology.

These are America’s problems, and we must come together as Americans
to meet them with the urgency this moment demands.  Economists from
across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and
boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to
double digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and
further out of reach.

That’s why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that
not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and
competitiveness in the long-term.  And this plan must be designed in a
new way—we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing
money at the problem.  We must make strategic investments that will
serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must
demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving
results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough
choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come
down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which
is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them
in the private sector.

To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on
foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and
renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient.  To build
a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to
create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools.  To
save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize
our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and
help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year. To make
America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we
will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. And to put
more money into the pockets of hardworking families, we will provide
direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers.

I look forward to meeting next week in Washington with leaders from
both parties to discuss this plan.  I am optimistic that if we come
together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party,
or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans,
then we will meet the challenges of our time just as previous
generations have met the challenges of theirs.

There is no reason we can’t do this.  We are a people of boundless
industry and ingenuity.  We are innovators and entrepreneurs and have
the most dedicated and productive workers in the world.  And we have
always triumphed in moments of trial by drawing on that great American
spirit—that perseverance, determination and unyielding commitment to
opportunity on which our nation was founded.  And in this new year, let
us resolve to do so once again. Thank you.

See the video here.

For more on NDN's recent work on the economy and stimulus click here, and for our recommendation on including a national effort to give all American workers computer training visit here.

Yesterday my family went shopping at a local Apple Store for a new iPod for my wife (she chose a Nano). In between chasing my kids as they ran through the store, we were all greeted with a remarkable sight - a youngish Apple employee patiently teaching a class of 10 or so middle-aged adults about all this new fangled technology pouring out of Apple these days. Since then, I've thought a a lot about that image of seeing learning happening at a retail store right in the middle of the holiday rush. To me, it could become an inspiring image for this new age of Obama - America and its people retooling, together, for the new economy of the 21st century. 

The new economy of the 21st century will be many things, but we know it will and must be technology-rich, built on a low-carbon foundation and with the rise of nations like China, India, Brazil and Mexico, much more globally competitive. Successfully transitioning America and its people to this new economy is one of the incoming President's most daunting challenges, and one he seems to understand. 

NDN was pleased and excited last week when the incoming President embraced some ideas we've been aggressively advocating for - investments in greening government buildings, health IT, creating universal and ubiquitous broadband and computer access, including in our nation's public schools and overall investment in our nation's aging infrastructure. These are smart investments, ones that will not only help address the short-term challenges we face but also help accelerate our transition into this new economy.  

As he and his team consider other measures that have similar dual short- and long-term benefits, we hope that they take a serious look at another idea NDN has been promoting - offering free computer training to all Americans. NDN first proposed this idea in a compelling paper by Dr. Rob Shapiro last year, Tapping the Resources of America's Community Colleges: A Modest Proposal to Provide Universal Access to Computer Training. In it he wrote:

It is time that America ensures that all workers have real opportunities to build
the skills necessary to operate one of the most important new technologies of our time, computers. Young Americans are increasingly adept at working with computers, but many American workers still lack those skills. Here, we propose a direct, new approach to giving U.S. workers the opportunity to develop those skills, by providing federal government grants to America’s community colleges to keep open their computer labs three nights every week, staffed by instructors who will provide basic instruction to any person in the community who walks in and requests it.

The primary way any nation can ensure that its people enjoy broad‐based upward mobility is to raise the productivity of its workers and businesses. Achieving that goal, as the United States has done throughout most of its history, depends largely on three critical factors. First, the economy must promote the development and spread of new technologies, new ways of organizing and operating businesses, and other innovations that create new value and new efficiencies. Second, companies must invest in those technologies and in other business and economic innovations, so workers can use them to perform their jobs more productively. Finally, workers, companies, and the government must provide continuing support for all workers to acquire the skills to operate new technologies and perform well in innovative business environments.

The program proposed here, fully implemented, could provide that support and enable all American workers to learn basic computer skills at a total annual cost of less than $125 million a year.

Later in 2007, Senator Obama's campaign embraced the idea, and Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson has been working on a bill that would introduce the idea in the House. We discussed this idea, and a sister idea - putting a laptop in every backpack of every American child - at a forum last year with Rob, Rep. Larson and Transition Advisor Alec Ross.  

There is great societal power in this program, well beyond its surface appeal. Imagine if the President launched a multi-year campaign to challenge Americans to upgrade their skills, and become fluent in the new ways of the Internet and computers. That he would offer training, ubiquitous access and in exchange, we would all go back to school - making it patriotic to retool around these new technologies and this new way of working. Older public officials could take these classes and encourage their fellow citizens to do so. Community leaders could engage in public chats with students in newly wired schools. And so on. It could become a national, communal effort to move our society and people to this new economy, together, embodying this new ethic already articulated by President-elect Obama that what must be done must be done together, that there is a limit to what government can do.  That by embracing this national effort to retool we will ensure that no American is left behind in this new economy of the 21st century.

My hope is that this moment I witnessed in the Apple Store yesterday - Americans learning, retooling - becomes a a model for an entire generation, and that together we work to make sure all Americans have the tools they need to live, learn and prosper in the new economy of this daunting new century.

In his Saturday address this morning, Barack Obama started filling in details of his emerging economic strategy.  Major elements of this speech - massive investment in our infrastructure, putting computers in our schools and making universal connectivity to the internet a national priority, health IT and making our government buildings more energy efficient (for both see here) - should be familiar to NDN readers, as they are ideas NDN has been championing for some time.  

Needless to say we are pleased with the direction the President-Elect is taking, and are anxious to work with him to turn these powerful words into reality next year.  

Here is the full text of this important speech: 

Good morning.

Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.

But this isn't about numbers. It's about each of the families those numbers represent. It's about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband's job or your daughter's job be the next one cut?

These are the questions that keep so many Americans awake at night. But it is not the first time these questions have been asked. We have faced difficult times before, times when our economic destiny seemed to be slipping out of our hands. And at each moment, we have risen to meet the challenge, as one people united by a sense of common purpose. And I know that Americans can rise to the moment once again.

But we need action - and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars.

We won't do it the old Washington way. We won't just throw money at the problem. We'll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve - by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We'll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we'll set a simple rule - use it or lose it. If a state doesn't act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they'll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we'll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President - because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I'm proposing will help modernize our health care system - and that won't just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor's office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

These are a few parts of the economic recovery plan that I will be rolling out in the coming weeks. When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least two and a half million jobs so that the nearly two million Americans who've lost them know that they have a future. And that's exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.

Thanks for listening.

More Background: Note this passage from an essay Rob Shapiro and I released in early November, A Stimulus for the Long Run: 

This change should be directed toward creating a 21st century, low-carbon, innovation-driven economy, as the development, spread and efficient use of economic innovations will continue to be the most important factors driving all our future progress in growth, productivity, and incomes. For example, productivity gains are increasingly tied to an employee's capacity to operate effectively in workplaces dense with information and telecommunications technologies. Within a decade, workers who cannot perform in such work environments will be marginalized economically. Therefore, the stimulus should help businesses and workers prepare for the ideas-based economy, through grants to community colleges to keep their computer labs open and staffed in the evenings and on weekends for any adult to walk in and receive free computer training, a plan Obama endorsed as Senator. The stimulus also could include an innovative program to provide inexpensive laptops to every sixth-grader in America and spread broadband installation to schools, local libraries, and human services offices that currently lack it.

There is already a broad consensus on the need to include infrastructure investment in the stimulus, but instead of addressing only roads and bridges, America can also take this opportunity to invest in a new generation of clean infrastructure. The federal government can lead the way, through greening its buildings and vehicle fleets and putting 1,000 megawatts of solar power on its roofs. It also can provide funding to help modernize the electrical grid and build a new generation of light rail systems for urban areas, as well as greater support for research and deployment in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, and tax credits and other incentives for greening America's homes and private buildings.

Aside from energy, the other rapidly rising business cost squeezing wages and jobs is health care. To help hold down these costs for the long haul, the stimulus can provide support for hospitals, clinics and physicians to purchase and install the hardware and software for standardized electronic medical records systems. This will serve as a first down payment for 21st century health care reform, and will ultimately reduce costs and promote best-practices at the nation's hospitals.

These are all investments we know we have to make if we intend to make the U.S. economy more efficient, innovative and sustainable. They also are all investments that will ultimate pay for themselves several times over. Congress and President-elect Obama can use this opportunity not only to create more jobs, but to do so in ways that will help drive the development of a real, 21st century workforce and genuine 21st century economic infrastructure. And taking this course by passing a stimulus for change could be an early and important opportunity for him to practice both his new politics and a new form of economic leadership.