FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
High-Tech Industry Leaders, Computing Research Association, Technology Network
Voice Support for Information Technology Investment
Washington, DC (September 1, 1999) - The Computing Research Association (CRA) and the Technology Network (TechNet) were joined by leaders in information technology industry and research at a news conference today to discuss the likely impact of pending cuts on the federal investment in information technology research. Earlier this year, the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) recommended an expansion of federal support for broad-based long-term IT research. Speaking in support of the PITAC's proposal were:
Eric A. Benhamou - Chairman and CEO, 3Com Corporation; Member, Executive Council, The Technology Network; PITAC Member
Vinton Cerf - Senior Vice President for Internet Architecture and Technology
MCI WorldCom; PITAC Member
Ken Kennedy - Ann and John Doerr Professor of Computational Engineering and Director, Center for Research on Parallel Computation, Rice University;
PITAC Member and former Co-Chair
Edward Lazowska - Board Chair, Computing Research Association; Chair, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
David C. Nagel - Chief Technology Officer, AT&T and President, AT&T Labs;
PITAC Member
"The Federal government is important to R&D funding precisely because it is able to make long-term investments that create new industries and improved quality of life," said Benhamou. "The universities and research institutions that receive federal funding invest it in students, researchers, and professors. The very process of research and development creates better minds, better methods of discovery, and better tools."
Despite broad bipartisan support, funding levels in pending appropriations bills fall well short of agency budget requests developed from the PITAC recommendations. In a joint letter released at the news conference, the CEO
of TechNet, Roberta Katz, and the Chair of CRA, Edward Lazowska, said, "We fear the current form of these bills would forgo critical opportunities to improve the lives of the American people through the enabling power of
computing and information technologies.... While we know there are many competing priorities, we believe that full funding of long-term precompetitive information technology research is especially warranted given the pervasive and catalytic impact of advances in IT." The TechNet-CRA letter calls on the Congress and the President to work together to ensure full funding for IT research.
Other organizations, including the PITAC, as well as various corporate officials, issued similar calls in their own letters sent and released today. These organizations include EDUCAUSE, the Association of Computing Machinery, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation, the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, NYSERNet, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
About the Computing Research Association:
The Computing Research Association (CRA) is an association of more than 180 North American academic departments of computer science and computer engineering; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia engaging in computing research; and affiliated professional societies. CRA's mission is to strengthen research and education in the computing fields, expand opportunities for women and minorities, and improve public and policymaker understanding of the importance of computing and computing research in our society. For more information on CRA please see .
About TechNet:
TechNet is a national bipartisan political network. Its mission is to help its members build working relationships with national and state political leaders and pass federal and state laws that will help foster the New Economy. Its primary public policy priorities for 1999 are: to strengthen the nation's investment in basic research by enacting a permanent R&D tax credit and increasing federal funding for basic research, to protect current accounting rules for business combinations and stock options, and to improve K-12 education. For more information on TechNet please see .
Contacts:
Lisa Thompson
Computing Research Association
202-234-2111
Josh McCloskey
Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
415-923-1660
