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Canada to U.S: Keep Crosby, We’ll Take Skilled Workers

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:43:00 EDT

Sidney Crosby’s world-class hockey skills leave fans cheering and opponents sweating. The 25-year-old native of Nova Scotia has a visa that allows him to play hockey in U.S. for the Pittsburgh Penguins for one simple reason -- he’s one of the one of the National Hockey League’s biggest talents. Any NHL team would want to hire him. He’s a global talent, serving as the alternate captain of Canada’s 2010 Olympic gold-medal winning team and scoring the medal-deciding overtime goal against the U.S. in Gold Medal Game.

Yet, I expect Canada may be willing to trade Crosby to the U.S. full-time in exchange for an influx of skilled workers.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of the Gang of 8 (G8) immigration reform bill has been hung up over concerns from many business organizations that the temporary visa reforms will make it harder, if not impossible, to utilize these visas to bring in highly skilled foreign talent. That is good news for Canada, which has been aggressively pursuing these individuals. Through college campus recruitment drives, company outreach, and now plain old advertising, Canada is sending a message to high-skilled workers and employers stuck in immigration frustration: Uncle Sam may not want you, but we do!

There’s nothing subtle about this “Go, Canada!” message. “H-1B problems?” the advertising leads. “Pivot to Canada. New Start-Up Visa. Low Taxes.” This advertisement has been prominently placed near San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the gateway to Silicon Valley. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, is on a four-day recruiting trip to Silicon Valley, and would like to turn SFO into a Canadian gateway for high-skilled talent:

I think everyone knows the American system is pretty dysfunctional. I'm going to the Bay Area to spread the message that Canada is open for business; we're open for newcomers. If they qualify, we'll give them the Canadian equivalent of a green card as soon as they arrive.

This brazen effort to lure high-skilled workers from the U.S. should be a wakeup call for Congress, starting with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Countries are coming to our shores, to our engines of job creation and innovation, and swiping the very talent that America needs to succeed.

Foreign governments rightfully see the current talent pool in the U.S. as job creators, not job fillers. Their recruitment efforts are being boosted by critics who are (wrongly) telling lawmakers that the H-1B system works against native-born Americans and our country’s economy. That view is flatly wrong. A cacophony of economic facts reinforces the critical role that high-skilled immigration plays to advance the United States’ long-term national interests. Most recently, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation zeroed in on “The Real Story on Guestworkers in the High-skill U.S. Labor Market":

High-skill foreign guestworkers provide fuel for the U.S. innovation economy that the United States cannot provide on its own. High-skill guestworker programs, such as the H-1B visa, help ensure that the best and the brightest from around the world come to the United States to deploy their skills, boosting the competitiveness and the innovative capacities of American companies and leading to the formation of new fast-growing American companies, which, in turn, improves the lives of everyday Americans and creates new jobs on American shores.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has the opportunity to cement U.S. global leadership in innovation and job creation. The committee should get behind Senator Orrin Hatch’s efforts to strengthen the H-1B system and enhance high-skilled immigration. If senators instead allow the U.S. immigration system to remain unworkable and fail to meet the demands of an ultra-competitive global economy, we’ll see new companies, new industries, and new jobs develop in other countries.

Senator Hatch has led a bipartisan effort on legislation that we believe will strengthen America’s workforce talent -- legislation that combines high-skilled immigration improvements with strong new investments in our classrooms so that America develops a home-grown team of world-class scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians. It’s the right approach to shape a workforce that keeps America in the lead in the global marketplace, and should be included in the immigration bill.

The time on the immigration reform game clock is running down. Who will win? Will the U.S. just get Sidney Crosby? Or will we win the bigger competition for the title of “Center of Global Innovation?” I’d rather we win that title and let Canada take the Stanley Cup any day.

ITU Forecast: Stormy Weather

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:20:00 EDT

Sessions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have historically been non-political. There have always been differences among Member States, but, for the most part, disagreements were resolved in a manner that enabled the parties to maintain an emphasis on consensus and collegiality. According to some long-time ITU participants, however, December’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) was a paradigm shift, marked by tense exchanges and intractable positions that make achieving a workable solution a much greater challenge.

The change in tone has sparked a new sense of urgency among Department of State professionals and other government and industry stakeholders. Accordingly, we are working together to identify common goals and strategies as the next series of ITU conferences and workshops begins this week in Geneva. Ultimately, we hope to avoid the significant risks to what has long been the foundation of the global Internet structure -- multi-stakeholder Internet governance, a free and open Internet, and industry-led, voluntary ICT standardization.

To achieve our goals, the United States needs to actively engage other countries involved in the ITU to help them better understand the adverse consequences that likely would accompany changes to Internet governance. At the same time, we will need to build alliances with like-minded national delegations to counter the aggressive ambitions of certain Member States, which have made clear their strong desire to fundamentally alter management of the Internet.

A looming challenge facing the United States and our allies is the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary (Plenipot) meeting, scheduled for October of next year in Busan, South Korea. Traditionally at such meetings, revisions are proposed on the ITU constitution and other governing documents. The State Department anticipates that such proposals will be introduced at Busan. There is, however, a potentially new and troubling development.

A mere revision of the ITU constitution by the Plenipot would have no bearing on the status of the recently revised International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs). In other words, countries such as the United States that did not accept the revised ITRs would still have no obligation to comply with them. If, however, a new constitution is tabled and approved by the Plenipot, ITU Member States would be obligated to accede to the revised ITRs. U.S. officials are reporting that some Member States, supported by ITU staff, are in fact arguing for a vote on a new constitution in Busan. Further, the State Department anticipates the introduction of a new ITU constitutional provision that would in effect “kick out” Member States that do not vote in favor of a new (or perhaps even revised) constitution. This would significantly hamper our efforts to protect the neutral, multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance, among other things.

The U.S. government is working vigorously to resist both these developments. It requires the support of two-thirds of eligible Member States to approve a new or revised constitution. Accordingly, proponents would only need to secure the support of another 8-10 countries more than what signed the revised ITRs at WCIT. An immense amount of work needs to take place between now and October 2014 to expand and solidify support for the U.S. position. To quote Ambassador Mickey Gardner, chairman of the U.S. Telecommunication Training Institute and former head of U.S. engagement at the ITU, “We need to start today.”

ITI is exploring the possibility of inviting a few, select developing countries in Africa to join us on a project to identify and address in-country gaps in standards development, conformity assessments, and other technical skill sets. The hope is that, if we can create an alternative to the ITU that empowers these countries to address key technical needs, the United States will be in a much better position to solicit their help on other key issues at the ITU. The ITI Standardization Policy Committee will be reviewing a proposal at its meeting on May 30-31. Let me know if you would like more information on this initiative or would like to suggest other ideas for engaging developing countries.

We need to, and are, starting today.

Senator Levin’s Irresponsible Tax Approach

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:58:00 EDT

When it comes to identifying policymakers who will champion bipartisan, constructive approaches to fix our outdated, broken tax system and help U.S. companies to innovate, compete and create jobs, don’t count Senator Carl Levin among them.

For several years, Senator Levin has used his position as Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to conduct a campaign to embarrass American companies for doing what any responsible business does every year: pay the taxes they legally owe, enabling them to invest more in strengthening American innovation and creating American jobs.

Senator Levin’s Subcommittee will continue its misbegotten adventure with a hearing next week focused solely on Apple. Fortunately, while Mr. Levin takes this combative approach, Democrats, Republicans, businesses, and civil society leaders are collaborating to create a better, more modern tax system. In April, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., announced a set of reform principles that they jointly developed after more than 50 hearings and thousands of hours of analysis and deliberation.

That’s real leadership that offers real hope for stronger economic growth.

The system is broken. Instead of bashing great American success stories like Apple, it would be far more productive for Senator Levin to work with his colleagues, Chairmen Baucus and Camp, and come up with a modern tax system that frees up U.S. companies to rely less on lawyers and invest more in innovators.

When it comes to corporate tax reform, Msrs. Baucus and Camp want to level the playing field for U.S. businesses that are facing serious foreign competition:

The current U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the world. Yet in recent years, some of America's largest corporations have paid zero tax. The current system picks winners and losers and puts the U.S. companies at a disadvantage in the global economy, a situation that hurts job creation. Tax reform must make our companies more competitive in the global economy.

…..

There are skeptics who question the prospects for bipartisan tax reform. We know we face some fierce headwinds. People from across the spectrum are trying to turn tax reform into a political weapon, which could end up killing any chance at success.

We can't let that happen. Tax reform can't be about politics. It has to be about the people we serve, about boosting the economy, about creating jobs in Montana, Michigan and across America. It has to be about restoring some trust in the process of government.

Again, that’s real leadership, and certainly not the kind of message we will hear from Senator Levin. Amazingly, he faults U.S. global companies for using resources to minimize their tax burden, while “edging right up to the legal line.” Ask any head of a household if he or she does the same thing before April 15. We all scramble for deductions to reduce our tax bill. Ask company shareholders – the real owners of a company – and employees how they would feel if their corporate executives sought to pay the lowest taxes legally possible while investing in their wages, in new R&D, and in new manufacturing. All would agree: It’s the responsible thing to do.

Perhaps Senator Levin should ask Apple’s executives this question: Would you rather hire a creative product developer or a savvy tax lawyer? The answer will be the product developer, hands down.

Our industry has stepped forward with ideas. The U.S. needs a modernized tax structure that will help America’s companies to create jobs and new opportunities here at home. To remain a step ahead of our rivals for jobs and investment, America needs a competitive, market-based tax structure with a lower rate that encourages U.S. innovation. Experts agree that this approach would make U.S. companies more competitive, boost wages here at home, and encourage U.S. companies to bring their foreign earnings home. Just reducing the corporate rate to 25 percent would create an average of 581,000 jobs each year for the next ten years. That’s a real solution, with real jobs and higher take-home pay as a result.

Next week’s hearing should be about responsibility: The responsibility of business executives to minimize tax burdens for the good of their shareholders and co-workers, and the responsibility of policymakers to fix a broken tax system for the good of their constituents and country. Sadly, that’s not the hearing we are likely to see.

Tech may sink immigration bill if unhappy, Sen. Hatch warns

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:15:00 EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday began debate on more than 300 amendments to the comprehensive immigration bill, including a number of changes to sections on H-1B visas.

The debate put focus on sharp divisions that appear to pit U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a leading critic of the H-1B visas, against Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has emerged as one of the leading tech industry supporters.

A key issue involves the amount of effort employers must make to hire a U.S. worker before filling a job with a visa holder. There are also concerns about the amount of power the U.S. Department of Labor and other agencies will have to audit and enforce visa usage.

To continue reading, please visit the official ComputerWorld website.

Tech Industry Weighs In as Senate Panel Works on Immigration Bill

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:00:00 EDT

Silicon Valley lobbyists this week pushed to sweeten the immigration bill to their advantage, as the Senate Judiciary Committee began working through a series of amendments that would affect the ability of technology companies to bring engineers from abroad. (You can watch a live Webcast of the committee hearing here.)

Luckily for the industry, its main champion on the committee is a Republican from Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch, whose support for the overall immigration package is considered crucial for the passage of the bill as a whole. He is floating several amendments that are on the industry’s wish list.

To continue reading, please visit the official New York Times website.

Senators battle over tech worker visas

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:00:00 EDT

Silicon Valley tech companies are aggressively seeking looser requirements to “hire American workers first” to fill tech jobs, potentially splitting the bipartisan Gang of Eight coalition that put together the huge immigration bill. The Senate Judiciary Committee worked through a series of tech-related amendments Tuesday that revealed divisions over the issue in both parties.

The bill expands H-1b visas from 65,000 to 110,000 a year, and as high as 180,000 if demand is high. The bill also eases the way to permanent residency for these workers as well as immigrants who have earned an advanced degree from a U.S. university in science, technology, engineering or math. The bill would eliminate per-country backlogs of green card applications that have kept many H-1b workers from attaining permanent residency.

To continue reading, please visit the official SFGate website.

H-1B Visas to Have Their Day in Committee

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:15:00 EDT

The tech community will have its first chance Tuesday to weigh in, carefully, on major immigration legislation being debated in the Senate. The influential lobbying force that has for years scrambled for access to highly skilled foreign workers must now carry out a rough balancing act: making sure lawmakers know that the bill, as written, does not work for it, but that it doesn’t want to kill the process, either.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is the key to the tech community’s success in this debate. He has readied a handful of amendments to make the H-1B visa program easier for companies to navigate. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to debate the title of the bill that addresses the high-skilled temporary visa program on Tuesday, but it is not clear that they will get to Hatch’s amendments. A safer bet is that amendments from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, which the tech community dislikes, will be brought up first.

To continue reading, please visit the official National Journal website.

Why the Judiciary Committee Should Side with Orrin Hatch on H-1Bs

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:31:00 EDT

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s work this week on the Gang of 8 (G8) immigration reform bill could include an energetic debate on two competing views about temporary skilled visas – the H-1B (for those with Bachelor’s degrees or higher) and the L-1 (for managers, executives and those with specialized knowledge) – and how they impact U.S. workers and the U.S. economy. These views are represented in two sets of amendments from two Senators, Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and the amendments that prevail are likely to impact future U.S. competitiveness, innovation, investment and economic growth in the years ahead.

One Senator must be wrong, and in this case, it’s Senator Grassley.

Both Senators Grassley and Hatch appeal to higher goals – economic vitality and prosperity for starters -- but hold very different perspectives on how temporary skilled visas get us there. Senator Grassley seeks to apply a tough set of unworkable requirements on all H-1B employers because he believes the H-1B visa generally works to harm U.S. workers and undermine economic opportunity. By contrast, Senator Hatch seeks to make H-1B visas more available but targeted to better complement U.S. workers, expand U.S.-based business operations, and fuel U.S. job creation.

Senator Grassley’s views on H-1B visas have an emotional appeal and are buttressed with anecdotal examples of abuse. I am not discounting the anecdotes, as I will note below, but the key question is simple: Are Senator Grassley’s assertions so systemic that they warrant severe and substantial restrictions on all H-1B employers?

The answer is simple: No.

The most compelling evidence supports Senator Hatch’s point of view, and the data come from a diverse array of experts and analysts from across the ideological spectrum. Their collective conclusion: temporary skilled workers 1) generally add value to the U.S. economy and overwhelmingly complement our domestic workforce; 2) are essential to meet the high demand for professional services, including many science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations; and, 3) are paid comparable to if not more than U.S. workers in jobs that pay good wages. Here’s a brief elaboration:

Temporary high-skilled workers complement our U.S. workforce. Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy notes that H-1B demand rises and falls with the economy, citing the 2001-03 recession, when a combined 230,000 H-1B visas went unused during a two year period. Economist Madeline Zavodny also found that from 2001-10, every 100 approved H-1B workers were associated with an additional 183 jobs among U.S. natives. Generally, the data suggest H-1B workers supplement, not supplant, U.S. workers, and contribute to increased economic activity.

Score one for Senator Hatch.

Temporary high-skilled workers are essential to U.S. STEM demand. Take your pick: 1) Real-world accounts of unfilled high-skilled jobs in the tens of thousands; 2) Extensive U.S. employer surveys and analyses that show skilled professionals are hardest to find for jobs most often filled by H-1B workers; 3) Unemployment data for many STEM sectors that suggest a STEM skills shortage.; or 5) public and private labor forecasts that warn STEM supply may not keep up with demand in the U.S., which increases the risk that more work will be pushed offshore to meet that demand.

That’s two for Senator Hatch.

Temporary high-skilled workers are paid comparable to, if not more than, U.S. workers. A just-released Brookings Institution report made apples-to-apples comparisons of H-1B and native-born U.S. workers, and found that among the 20 occupations most commonly filled by H-1B workers, H-1B wages were significantly higher in 17 of these occupations, and were comparable for the other three. The Brookings report also noted that U.S. STEM workers today earn a 25% compensation premium relative to non-STEM workers, and have seen earnings rise by 3% to 6% relative to all other U.S. occupations during the past decade.

The Brookings report’s conclusion: “The evidence suggests that the H-1B program does help fill a shortage in labor supply for the occupations most frequently requested by employers.”

That’s a hat trick for Senator Hatch.

I am not suggesting the H-1B visa is abuse free. A 2008 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report found fraud does exist, and since then, USCIS ramped up anti-fraud staffing from under 10 to more than 800, and now conducts more than 15,000 site visits annually to investigate H-1B employers, including the Labor Condition Applications they file regarding wages. All of that has made a difference.

The G8 bill would further expand anti-fraud authority and resources – a more targeted approach more likely to ensure that H and L visas both work to benefit both U.S. workers and the U.S. economy.

Senator Hatch’s much-needed improvements to the G8 bill are based on a fundamental principle: When most U.S. employers opt to pursue H-1B visas for skilled workers, they are making decisions to invest and strengthen their U.S. workforce and operations, as well as the U.S. economy overall. This principle is at the heart of Senator Hatch’s Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act, which today has 25 bipartisan cosponsors. In debates like these, it’s important to have strong data and bipartisan support on your side. Let’s hope the Judiciary Committee sides with Senator Hatch as well.

Top tech groups press for changes to Gang of Eight bill ahead of markup

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:15:00 EDT

Trade associations and local business groups that represent top American tech companies proposed a set of changes to the temporary worker visa measures in the Gang of Eight's immigration bill on Monday.

More than 50 influential national and local business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Internet Association, outlined their proposed "improvements" to the bill in a letter sent to Senate Judiciary panel members on Monday.

The letter comes a day before the committee is set to consider a slate of amendments to the section of the Gang of Eight bill that would modify the immigration rules for highly-skilled and educated foreign workers.

To continue reading, please visit the official The Hill website.

High-tech companies push for more in Senate immigration bill; labor pushes back

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:00:00 EDT

WASHINGTON — High-tech companies looking to bring more skilled workers to the U.S. pushed Monday for more concessions in an immigration bill pending in the Senate. Labor unions said the Silicon Valley had already gotten enough in the legislation and further changes risked chipping away at protections for U.S. workers.

The clash is set to play out in a Capitol Hill hearing room this week as the Senate Judiciary Committee resumes consideration of amendments to sweeping legislation remaking the nation’s immigration system.

To continue reading, please visit the Washington Post website.

Job Creators and Employers Speak with One Voice on Senate Immigration Bill

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:01:00 EDT

Not long after the introduction of the Senate’s Gang of 8 (G8) comprehensive immigration reform bill, one of its leading members and voices, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), called the introduced legislation “a starting point” and applauded those Americans who have already stepped forward to raise “legitimate points and suggestions on how to improve the bill.” Today, a collection of 55 national, state and local business organizations are coming together to offer their suggestions to ensure that this important legislation works as intended to advance investment, innovation, entrepreneurialism, and job creation in the United States. Fortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee will have an opportunity this week to act on these suggestions in the form of a package of amendments by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

The G8 legislation is indeed a good starting point, particularly the much-needed proposals to reform our permanent resident visa (“green card”) system. Our legal immigration system was built in 1990, and has not kept pace with the dramatic and dynamic changes in our economy. At a time when competition for talent is truly global, our legal immigration system stymies the professional development of foreign-born talent in the U.S., forcing them to consider returning home or to places like Canada, Australia or Chile to start a business. Simply put, we are creating new skill-intensive jobs faster than we can fill them, and the G8 legislation would help complement our domestic U.S. workforce by enabling foreign-born innovators and entrepreneurs to create new opportunities in the U.S. through new businesses and new jobs.

Unfortunately, while the green card reforms will advance U.S. national interests, the same cannot be said for the temporary visa proposals in the bill. Even with greater availability of green cards, temporary H-1B and L-1 visas will continue to be an important part of a talent pipeline, and are necessary to maximize work in the U.S., particularly work that advances the U.S. as a hub for innovation. However, for those companies that seek temporary visas to complement their existing U.S. workforce, as well as to expand their permanent presence in the U.S., a set of new onerous and unnecessary restrictions and requirements in the G8 bill is certain to push the work and investment that would come through temporary visas outside the U.S.

In response, a multi-industry coalition of concerned business organizations have sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to urge their support for improvements in the legislation that impact the ability of U.S. employers to recruit and place foreign-born workers on temporary visas, and to ensure that the overall temporary visa system works as intended. The organizations that have come together represent sectors ranging from manufacturing to finance to technology, which underscore the reach of the knowledge economy in the U.S. The 31 state and local organizations on the letter hail from 21 states and represent businesses large and small.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will have an opportunity to support the business coalition’s proposals by passing a set of amendments offered to the G8 bill by Senator Hatch. The Hatch amendments would: 1) ensure recruitment decisions are based on industry best practices, and clear business interests to secure the most qualified candidates to work in the U.S.; 2) explicitly prohibit use of an H-1B visa to displace a U.S. worker; 3) allow for client-site placement of managers and specialized knowledge professionals on L-1 visas under clear, workable conditions; and 4) ensure that the H-1B cap adjustment formula, and spousal work requirements operate as intended.

All of our professional visa programs should work effectively to all U.S. employers to complement their U.S. workforce, and advance the competitive and innovative capabilities of their U.S. operations. In these instances, decisions to pursue temporary visas for skilled workers are decisions to invest and support U.S. based operations as well as the U.S. economy overall. By approving the set of amendments offered by Senator Hatch, the Senate Judiciary Committee will improve the G8 bill and ensure it advances these important goals.

Applied Materials "Is Just Magic"

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:46:00 EDT

When the leader of the free world walks through a door, it is usually the audience that is in a bit of awe. But today, when President Obama visited the Applied Materials campus in Austin, Tex., the tables were turned. After touring the facility and seeing the chip assembly facility and the precision with which the team there works, the president seemed genuinely impressed.

It was incredible. [I saw] some of your “clean rooms” where you are building the equipment that makes the chips that is basically powering everything that you guys are taking pictures with right now. Smartphones, computers, iPads, laptops. And it is just remarkable to see. Every time I walk through these kinds of facilities I'm thinking, this is just magic.

President Obama’s remarks focused on innovation, advanced manufacturing, and job creation. From STEM programs to incentives for R&D and for businesses to build new facilities here at home, the president spoke of the total formula to help ensure America’s long-term global leadership in technology and innovation. And he again pointed to Applied Materials as an example for how that formula leads to success.

Think about how this company was built. Back in 1967, when Applied Materials was just getting off the ground, there were five employees. They worked out of this small industrial unit in California. And I suppose they had a “clean room” in there, but I don't know what it looked like. (Laughter.) But what they lacked in size, they made up with ingenuity and imagination and risk-taking. And over the years, as you grew to become a leader in high-tech manufacturing, that ingenuity never faltered. Whether you’ve been with this company for decades -- as I know some of you have -- or just for a year, you’re all focused on the future. Every day you're pushing the limits of technology a little bit further . . . That's America. We innovate. We adapt. We move forward.

As for the policy background of the president’s trip, White House advisers this afternoon provided details on the start of competitions for three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes -- partnerships among business, universities and community colleges, and government to develop and build manufacturing technologies and capabilities that will help U.S.-based manufacturers and workers to create good jobs. President Obama also renewed his call for Congress to take action on his proposal to create a one-time $1 billion investment to create a network of 15 manufacturing innovation institutes across the country.

During a call this afternoon, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling noted that initiatives like this will help to define wither the U.S. economy grows quickly. Advanced manufacturing, he noted, “punches above its weight” and creates new jobs and new opportunities for families and businesses alike.

90 percent of patents are from manufacturing. 70 percent of private-sector R&D. More than 50 percent of our exports. But more importantly – the impact it has on innovation.

We believe very strongly that location matters -- that the location of advanced manufacturing matters not just for jobs in the factory but for the supply network of small businesses and innovations that are created around that. When you have that type of strong partnership and strong connections between companies, universities, and small business supplier chains, you make the United States more of a magnet for job creation, more of a magnet for innovation.

(Listen to excerpts from the call.)

Sperling also made the case for the president’s proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The President’s FY14 Budget includes a $1 billion investment at the Department of Commerce to create the NNMI, a model based on approaches that that other countries have successfully deployed. Each institute would serve as a regional hub designed to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, bringing together companies, universities and community colleges, and Federal agencies to co-invest in technology areas that encourage investment and production in the U.S. As Information Technology & Innovation Foundation President Rob Atkinson noted last month when the budget was released, the NNMI has significant potential.

Innovation is central to revitalizing our economy, enhancing American competitiveness and boosting job growth and quality of life. The President has proposed a series of initiatives, backed by significant government investment, which will greatly improve our national innovation infrastructure.

NNMI will serve as a hub for new technology, workforce training and enhanced collaboration between industry, government and academia, while spurring the creation of the new products, processes and industry sectors that are vital to reviving American manufacturing.

Also of note today, President Obama issued an executive order requiring that newly released government data be made freely available in open, machine-readable formats, while appropriately safeguarding privacy, confidentiality, and security. The move will make huge caches of previously inaccessible or unmanageable data easily available to entrepreneurs, researchers, and others who can use those files to generate new products and services, build businesses, and create jobs.

The saying goes that everything is bigger in Texas. Let’s hope that investments in innovation and R&D get bigger, too.

Energy in Energy Efficiency Legislation!

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:17:00 EDT

Back in July 2011, as the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee marked up and approved S. 1000, the Shaheen/Portman bill on energy efficiency, I couldn't get excited. Why? It was abundantly clear that the bill had no chance of enactment. With the 2012 election already looming, there was no momentum behind bipartisan energy legislation, even in the noncontroversial, low-hanging fruit area of energy efficiency. The bill, in reality, was already doomed.

I feel very differently today. As the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee successfully finished its quick mark up of four hydroelectric bills, and S. 761, the new Shaheen/Portman bill, I am a caldron of cautious optimism. This bill, "The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act," has energy. Senators Jean Shaheen and Rob Portman, their key staff members (Robert Diznoff and Steve Kittredge, respectively), as well as Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski and their staffs, are all to be congratulated. They have written a good bill and they have given it momentum. This includes work with the other side of the Capitol, where a bipartisan House counterpart (H.R. 1616) has been introduced by Reps. David McKinley and Peter Welch.

The bill is still a long way from the president's desk, but I have this strong sense that it could make it there. I feel the same way, too, about another energy efficiency bill that ITI is championing -- H.R. 540, the "Energy Efficient Government Technology Act." Introduced earlier this year by Reps. Anna Eshoo, Mike Rogers, David McKinley, Peter Welch, Cory Gardner, and Paul Tonko, the bill promotes federal government leadership in leveraging ICT to enable more sustainable, less costly government. The two bills complement each other well, and both deserve enactment. Let there be energy in energy efficiency legislation in 2013!

Conservatives Spar over Economics of Immigration Reform

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:13:00 EDT

The Heritage Foundation's new study on immigration reform is prompting a fiery debate among conservatives over the Senate's bipartisan immigration bill.

Co-author of the Heritage study Robert Rector and American Action Forum's Douglas Holtz-Eakin faced-off on the economics behind the immigration bill on CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" Monday night.

"With amnesty what you're doing is taking ten million illegal immigrants with an average education of 10th-grade and giving them access to 80 different programs, Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare," Rector said." "The net cost of that is that you're going to increase government spending by about nine trillion dollars."

To continue reading, please visit the official CNBC website.

Tracking the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Markup

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:39:00 EDT

The Senate Judiciary Committee today begins what promises to be an ambitious effort over the next few weeks to review and consider amendments to S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, otherwise known as the bipartisan “Gang of 8” immigration reform bill. The committee has a webcast of the markup. And here are some other resources that may be helpful to you:

The proposed “Gang of 8” legislation;
The package of changes proposed by the bipartisan sponsors;
A tracked version of the legislation reflecting the proposed sponsor changes; and,
A site to track proposed amendments during the committee work.

As the Committee's markup moves forward, we’ll have analysis and insight on the ITI Blog. Be sure to check back for updates.

Our priority going into the markup is straightforward: to advance high-skilled immigration reforms that best serve the national interest. We believe that immigration policy is innovation policy and, as we review proposed changes and work with Senators and their staffs, we’ll keep that belief as our North Star. We’ll ask the simple question: Does any proposed change help to make the bill a more effective engine for growing economic opportunity and creating jobs in the United States? We’re already working with our member companies on improvements designed to avoid unintended consequences and ensure that skilled immigration policies work as intended and for the benefit of the U.S. economy.

If this were a baseball game, today’s Judiciary Committee markup places us in the early innings of a long process that could go extra innings. The results of the markup, in large part, will set the tone for the rest of the debate and determine whether the legislation will further gain momentum through additional bipartisan support as it moves to the full Senate.

We hope that the members of the Judiciary Committee will seize this moment and approve a bill that will align immigration policy with our national economic interests, and result in a stronger innovation economy for the U.S., with new opportunities, new industries, and new jobs.

Technology firms jealously guard worker visas in Senate immigration bill

Thu, 09 May 2013 05:00:00 EDT

The tech industry is on guard against amendments to the Senate immigration bill that could chip away at provisions that would help their businesses employ more highly skilled foreign workers.

In particular, tech companies are worried that a set of amendments offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) would tack on additional rules and requirements to the H-1B temporary worker program that they say would make it difficult for their businesses to make use of the visas.

Tech industry representatives fear Grassley’s changes would discourage companies from hiring workers with H1-B visas because so many requirements would have to be met. They also argue that Grassley’s proposed changes would potentially increase their legal liabilities.

To continue reading, please visit the official The Hill website.

Developing Nations Vote 'No' to 'Digital Dump'

Wed, 08 May 2013 21:30:00 EDT

GENEVA -- A vote that would have permitted electronics equipment manufacturers to send certain types of electronics waste to developing nations for disposal went down in defeat this week.

The draft Guideline on Transboundary Movement of e-Waste would have exempted the shipment of repairable e-waste from industrialized nations to developing countries.

However, a group of developing countries teamed to defeat the measure during the 11^th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention in Geneva.

To continue reading, please visit the official Circuits Assembly website.

FCC puts browsers on the accessibility page

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:15:00 EDT

The FCC decided to put that to bed once and for all. Last week the commission released a Report and Order to implement Section 718 and part of Section 716 of the Communications Act. Section 718 “requires Internet browsers installed on mobile phones to be accessible to and usable by individuals who are blind or have a visual impairment, unless doing so is not achievable. This requirement applies when Internet browsers are used for any purpose.”

And to close that loophole, Section 716 “requires Internet browsers installed on equipment used for advanced communications services, such as computers, laptops, and tablets used for e-mail, to be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, unless doing so is not achievable. This requirement applies when Internet browsers are used for advanced communications services.”

To continue reading, please visit the official GCN website.

Things Looking Up for Helium Legislation

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:42:00 EDT

Following a 394-1 vote two weeks ago by the House of Representatives to pass the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, the Senate began looking at this issue this week with a hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This is a promising sign for an issue that will affect numerous domestic industries if Congress does not act by the end of this fiscal year.

Helium is a necessary and irreplaceable element for semiconductors, fiber optics, MRIs, and many other high-tech processes and scientific research needs. Intel’s Carolyn Duran, Ph.D., Director of Chemical Risk and Compliance, Global Sourcing and Procurement, had this to say while testifying at Tuesday’s hearing:

[H]elium is one gas that is used pervasively throughout the process, and without it, our factories would not operate. This is true for all semiconductor manufacturing, not just Intel…Due to prior shortages, over the past several years Intel and other manufacturers have worked to replace helium with alternatives, such as argon or nitrogen, where possible….When helium is utilized for its low boiling point, as in MRI’s and condensed matter physics, there simply are no substitutes.

This would not be a huge problem, were it not for the fact that the U.S. government hold’s 30% of the world’s helium supply -- 40 percent of the U.S. helium supply -- and the private sector is not prepared at this time to make up the difference if this source were taken out of the market. This is a point Gail Collins aptly made in her article, An Ode to Helium, which appeared in the May 3 New York Times.

If the reserve closes now, the country loses 40 percent of its helium supply. So, last week, the House voted to extend the program…The helium reserve, by the way, is still going to run dry in five or 10 years. Maybe private enterprise will step up to the plate. But if not, somebody’s going to have to organize one hell of a balloon recycling program.

Domestic industry is already struggling with supply instability, and losing such a significant portion of the domestic supply would be disastrous. Again, from Dr. Duran’s testimony:

While the exact results cannot be known, I can say with confidence that it would be disruptive to an already tenuous supply line. The semiconductor industry, already realizing shortages, would be directly impacted. If the supply were to be disrupted for a significant amount of time, the resulting shutdown of our manufacturing facilities would directly impact the overall economy. A shortage impacting our industry will have a broad impact to the very industries that rely on our products, including health care, transportation and the energy sectors.

What does all this ultimately mean? Without Congressional action in the next 5 months, the tech sector, and other sectors that depend on helium will be facing soaring prices and supply shortages when the Federal Government’s authority expires on October 7. It is imperative Congress act to continue operation of the Federal Helium Reserve until the private sector can meet the helium needs of domestic industry. Like the House bill, with a few tweaks to ensure there are no supply disruptions, the Senate bill recognizes the need stabilize the domestic helium supply. The Senate has taken a good first step to follow on the positive action in the House, but a bill is far from being sent to the president’s desk.

Internet Taxation Coming Soon to a Link Near You

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:26:00 EDT

"I love paying taxes," said no one ever. So absent popular support, why has the Senate just passed, with bipartisan backing, a new national Internet sales tax known as the Marketplace Fairness Act that will allow states to collect taxes for the first time on sales outside their borders? President Obama said he will sign the bill if or when it comes to him, while an identical House bill also has bipartisan backing, although it will likely face tougher passage in the Republican-controlled House this week.

It sounds like bad news for consumers, but as it turns out, the real picture is a little more nuanced than 'Greedy Government Pushes New Tax on Behalf of Big Corporations'—which you could be forgiven for thinking at first glance. Techdirt points out that the tax has been lobbied for by two key constituents: "(1) big box offline retailers who think that the online guys are only beating them because they don't have to charge a sales tax for out of state purchases (2) local state governments who think they're being ripped off by not being able to collect such taxes."

To continue reading, please visit the official PCMa g website.

ITI's Dean Garfield talks immigration reform on CNBC

Tue, 07 May 2013 03:19:00 EDT

As we move closer to the Senate Judiciary Committee consideraton of S. 744, the bipartisan Gang of 8 comprehensive immigration reform bill, ITI's Dean Garfield talked with CNBC's Larry Kudlow about the link between immigration reform and economic growth.

Tech firms fight hiring rules in immigration bill

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:30:00 EDT

Technology firms, exercising new political clout on Capitol Hill, are lobbying against a measure in the leading Senate immigration bill that would make it harder for them to recruit workers from abroad without first taking steps to hire Americans for highly skilled jobs in programming, engineering and other fields.

The measure, part of a sweeping compromise bill drafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators, would require job openings to be posted on a new government website for 30 days and order companies to first extend job offers to "equally or better qualified" U.S. workers. It would give the U.S. Labor Department the power to review and challenge those hiring decisions.

To continue reading, please visit the official USA Today website.

On CNBC, Immigration Is Innovation

Mon, 06 May 2013 21:53:00 EDT

As we inch closer to Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup of S. 744, the bipartisan Gang of 8 comprehensive immigration reform bill, ITI's Dean Garfield tonight talked with CNBC's Larry Kudlow about the link between immigration reform and economic growth. Here are highlights, or you can watch the entire interview here.

.....

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to align our immigration system with our economic best interest.

Our principal focus is job creation. We know immigration is innovation policy. We care about getting more high-skilled labor here in the U.S. and having the U.S. be the platform for innovation in the world. We also care about making sure our immigration policies are aligned with our economic interests. This is an opportunity to do that, both in the permanent visa system as well as with the H1B system, getting more start-ups, getting more STEM -- all of those will lead to job creation.

40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies in this country were founded by immigrants or immigrants’ kids. Of the top research institutions in the United States, 70 percent of the patents filed out of those institutions are being filed by immigrants. So we know the story, which is that immigration policy is innovation policy. It leads to economic growth. It’s a virtual cycle and it's one we want to continue.

There is no doubt in my mind and no doubt from all the studies that we've seen that by having high-skilled immigration will lead to economic growth in this country, which will actually unleash the kind of innovativeness and job creation that we all want to see.

As Senator Rubio has said, as the president said, this is a starting point. It’s a very good starting point in order to get what we want and the country need for job creation. We know we have to seize the opportunity in front of us today.

US Senate approves Internet sales tax

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:10:00 EDT

The U.S. Senate has voted to allow states to collect sales tax from online retailers, making it more difficult to buy tax-free products online.

The Senate's vote of 69-27 for the Marketplace Fairness Act late Monday sends the bill to the House of Representatives, where it may face opposition from many antitax Republicans. U.S. President Barack Obama has voiced support for the bill, meaning he would sign it into law if the House passed it.

The bill would allow states to collect sales tax on large Internet sellers that have no presence within their borders, curtailing the ability of Internet shoppers to avoid sales tax. Now, online retailers only have to collect taxes in states where they have a physical presence, including retail stores and warehouses.

To continue reading, please visit the official ComputerWorld website.

Will Apple & Co. Throw Away Your Broken Gadgets in These Countries?

Sat, 04 May 2013 12:08:00 EDT

Are Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other tech companies pushing for legislation that would make it easier to send more e-waste to developing countries? A major tech industry trade association is seeking to alter the rules of an international convention that oversees the movement of hazardous waste between countries.

Known as the Basel Convention, this international treaty helps protect developing countries from being unfairly deluged with hazardous electronic detritus from developed countries. The Basil Action Network, or BAN, is a non-governmental watchdog group that seeks to promote the Basil Convention. BAN is accusing the Information Technology Industry Council of attempting to weaken these protective laws at the next meeting of the Basil Convention.

To continue reading, please visit the official Wall St. Cheat Sheet website.

Partnering to Advance Responsible Reuse Solutions

Sat, 04 May 2013 10:50:00 EDT

ITI is back in Geneva this week to participate in the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP-11) of the Basel Convention -- an international treaty designed to control international shipments of hazardous waste. Governments, civil society, and the private sector are continuing our multi-year effort to construct international guidelines to stop the illegal flow of electronic waste to facilities in the developing world that lack the capacity to properly and safely manage them.

The tech sector strongly backs tough protections to prevent products at the end of their lives from being dumped in places without the facilities or specialization to handle them. We have actively engaged in this initiative for years, and will continue to advocate for approaches that safeguard the environment.

Part of that effort is ensuring that second-generation products can be repaired and refurbished by well-trained technicians at environmentally sound, professionally managed facilities. Electronics companies operate these facilities around the world. We want to ensure that the Basel Convention recommendations don’t have unintended consequences of preventing companies from fixing or refitting products that still have useful life in them. We need to be able to move valuable used products across borders to qualified regional repair and refurbishment centers so these devices can be returned to the marketplace.

These legitimate practices are completely in keeping with widely endorsed sustainability principles, which acknowledge that repairing and reusing products makes the most of the resources and energy used to manufacture them. In addition, repairing and reusing valuable equipment provides consumers in the developing world with access to technologies, such as computers, cell phones, and medical equipment, at reasonable cost.

The guidelines currently under consideration underscore the importance of allowing legitimate reuse, even as governments rightly move to reduce the mismanagement of e-waste. The guidelines state:

Direct reuse or reuse after repair or refurbishment can contribute to sustainable development. Reuse extends the life of equipment, which reduces the environmental footprint of the resource-intensive production processes of the equipment. It may also provide access to such equipment for groups in society that otherwise would not have access to it due to reduced costs of second-hand equipment.

ITI is working with all stakeholders -- from governments to NGOs -- to craft careful solutions that will provide necessary assurances to deter bad actors from moving electronic waste, while avoiding restrictions that could prevent legitimate and accepted reuse activities. We want to avoid requirements that could unintentionally prevent a customer from sending a product back to the manufacturer for repair; a lessee from returning used computers and servers to the lessor; a manufacturer from conducting important diagnostic work on a piece of failed equipment; or, a company from shipping a used part to a foreign market to fix sophisticated medical equipment or a computer server.

ITI strongly supports strict controls on the movement of waste electronics, but adopting limits on legitimate shipments for repair and reuse will produce unacceptable environmental, economic, and social impacts. If valuable used products cannot move to environmentally sound regional assessment and repair facilities for eventual return to commerce, we expect that there will be an increase in:

E-waste generation rates, as many used products will not be repaired and reused but will instead be prematurely sent for materials recovery;
Improper e-waste disposal, as products may be locked within countries that lack environmentally sound management facilities; and,
Raw materials extraction, processing, and carbon emissions associated with the manufacture of new products to replace those that can no longer be maintained or repaired.

Unfortunately, even before the Geneva negotiations started this week, we’ve seen a great deal of misinformation put forward, including the inflammatory claim that the tech sector is seeking to create a system for “international toxic waste dumping.” That is an irresponsible statement without any basis in fact. ITI is urging those involved in the Geneva talks to continue working toward the development of international guidelines to ensure the environmentally sound management of old electronics products, and many companies are partnering with governments on new take-back initiatives in countries across the globe.

ITI is also working to build a common understanding among governments that documented movements of used equipment for repair and reuse has legitimate value to the economy and environment alike. (See our full set of recommendations to the Basel convention, put forward in December 2012.)

We must protect the environment. And part of that mission is ensuring that we find smart new ways to recycle and reuse old tech products. We are willing and eager to work with governments and stakeholders alike to focus on proper regulation and sustainable solutions to the e-waste challenge.

Industry Lobbying to Exempt ‘E-Waste’ Exports Drawing Fire

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:00:00 EDT

Computer and other electronic equipment manufacturers pressing for exemptions from established controls on the export of electronic waste or e-waste are drawing fire from NGOs.

Basel Action Network says relaxing such controls could undermine efforts to properly dispose of toxic materials in the least harmful way possible.

The proposed exemptions would permit untested or nonfunctional electronic waste, often containing toxic lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants, to be considered a non-waste and subject to free trade in certain circumstances, so long as the exporter can claim the old equipment might be “repairable,” asserts BAN.

To continue reading, please visit the official Printed Circuit Design & Fab website.

Veteran tech workers see themselves locked out of job market

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:15:00 EDT

Many tech companies have called for the U.S. Congress to ease restrictions on high-skill immigration because they can't find qualified tech workers to fill open positions. Yet, many veteran IT tech workers say they can't find jobs.

More than a dozen veteran IT workers, contacted through the Programmers Guild and high-skill immigration critic Norm Matloff, computer science professor at the University of California at Davis, say they can't find jobs, with many pointing to a glut of cheap workers available through the H-1B visa program.

To continue reading, please visit the official ComputerWorld website.

BAN: Electronics industry lobbies to classify e-waste as non-waste to allow export

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:04:00 EDT

Geneva, Switzerland -- At this week’s meeting of the Basel Convention, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturers are pressing hard for exemptions from established controls on the export of electronic waste or e-waste. The proposed exemptions would allow untested or non-functional electronic waste, often containing toxic lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants, to be considered a non-waste and subject to free-trade in many circumstances so long as the exporter can claim that that the old equipment might be ‘repairable’.

The Basel Action Network (BAN) will condemn the latest industry move today at the opening of the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (COP11). This week’s meeting comes on the heels of the previous COP10 Basel meeting in 2011 that celebrated the advancement of the Basel Ban Amendment – an international agreement that forbids the export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries, and is already implemented by 33 developed countries. BAN argues that this latest industry effort would undercut the very reason for the Basel Convention, not to mention the Ban Amendment.

To continue reading, please visit the official Recycling Portal website.

As Congress considers more H-1B visas, U.S. tech workers struggle to find work

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:03:00 EDT

Many tech companies have called for the U.S. Congress to ease restrictions on high-skill immigration because they can't find qualified tech workers to fill open positions. Yet many veteran IT tech workers say they can't find jobs.

More than a dozen veteran IT workers, contacted through the Programmers Guild and high-skill immigration critic Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis, say they can't find jobs, with many pointing to a glut of cheap workers available through the H-1B visa program.

To continue reading, please visit the official InfoWorld website.

Industry calls for WEEE to be classed as non-waste

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:01:00 EDT

Computer and electronic manufacturers are lobbying to have waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) reclassified as ‘non-waste’ to enable it to be exported to developing countries for repair.

Under the Basel Ban Amendment – currently implemented in 33 countries – the export of WEEE (classed as a hazardous waste) to developing countries is illegal.

However, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) – an association that includes electronic manufacturers including Dell, HP, Sony, Samsung, LG and Apple – is set to lobby for an exemption to the ban at the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (COP11) today (3 May).

To continue reading, please visit the official Resource website.

Two Presidents Talk One Big Trade Deal

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:53:00 EDT

Expanding trade and economic opportunities was a primary focus as President Obama met Thursday for several hours with Mexican President Peña Nieto. At a joint news conference after their bilateral discussions, both presidents talked about the economic imperative of expanding trade not only between the two neighbors, but also with other regions of the world.

President Nieto highlighted an agreement to establish high-level talks that will include Vice-President Biden to deepen economic integration between the two economies.

President Peña Nieto:

One of the first agreements that we have made was to create a high-level dialogue that, within its framework, will foster trade and commerce with the United States. This means that for the first time -- and probably this is unprecedented -- we will have the Mexican economic cabinet with their counterparts from various government agencies from the United States, as well as high-ranking officials. And we've heard from the President that in this group, the Vice President of the United States will participate in order to set a dialogue that will result in arrangements in terms of how the government can support all the efforts made by the private sector in order to have stronger economic integration.

For this purpose, we have agreed that during the fall of this year, this high-level group will meet for the first time with the attendance of high-ranking officials to start working in the area of the economy.

President Obama said the two leaders focused on a top trade priority of the tech sector -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Mexico and the United States are leading players in the 11-nation negotiations (which will grow to 12 once Japan’s request to join is accepted).

Together with Mexico, we’ll focus on increasing the connections between our businesses and workers, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship and making our economies even more competitive.

To that end, we also reaffirmed our goal of concluding negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year. This would be another major step in integrating our two economies and positioning us to compete in the fastest-growing markets in the world, those in the Asia-Pacific region. We want to be able to sell more goods from Mexico and the United States. And if we’re partnering together, we can do even better.

…

The fastest growing part of the world is the Asia-Pacific region -- huge markets. And by us working closely together to upgrade and revamp our trade relationship we’re also in a position to project outward and start selling more goods and services around the world. And that means more jobs and more businesses that are successful in Mexico and in the United States.

Both countries stand to gain substantially if the TPP can reach a strong conclusion, eliminating barriers to trade and investment. For the U.S., for example, in 2012, total trade with TPP countries was more than $1.3 trillion in merchandise and more than $172 billion in services. Those figures will expand with a successful TPP agreement. And given that the other 10 nations currently involved in the talks have been growing rapidly during the past decade, we know the market opportunities for U.S. products and services will only continue to expand.

The next round of TPP negotiations is set for Lima, Peru, later this month. We hope the diplomats will formally accept Japan to the talks, make significant progress, and move us ever closer to a final, bold agreement.

Tech group pushing to ease rules for exporting broken phones

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:45:00 EDT

A trade group that represents Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and several other device makers is pushing to change international rules to make it easier to ship broken mobile phones and other gadgets to developing nations.

The Information Technology Industry Council is suggesting the changes at this week's meeting of the Basel Convention, which oversees the international treaty intended to prevent international toxic waste dumping. The group is proposing new language in the treaty that could reduce the types of gadgets currently considered electronic waste.

The changes are esoteric shifts in what for most consumers is an obscure international document. But, according to one watchdog group, the implications are significant. The Seattle-based Basel Action Network worries that the trade group's proposed language could lead to a deluge of exporting of gadgets containing toxic lead, cadmium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants to countries ill-equipped to safely dispose of them.

To continue reading, please visit the official CNET website.

Facebook, Samsung join ITI lobby group

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:06:00 EDT

The Information Technology Industry Council Council (ITI) announced on Thursday that technology giants Facebook and Samsung have joined as member companies.

Dean Garfield, the group's president and CEO, said he expects to lobby on privacy regulation, cybersecurity and other issues for the companies.

"ITI has a proven track record when it comes to tackling complex policy issues that affect the broad tech community and that experience will help us as we continue to find ways to promote an innovation focused policy environment in Washington," Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president of U.S. public policy, said in a statement.

To continue reading, please visit the official The Hill website.

Jobs, Trade Central to New USTR, Commerce Leadership

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:08:00 EDT

President Obama today nominated two leaders for posts that are about, as their core mission, creating new U.S. jobs and building new global opportunities for America’s businesses.

Mike Froman promises to be a strong leader as our next U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and his nomination comes at a critical juncture for U.S. trade policy. With the push to complete the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion this summer and the start of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks around the corner, determined, driven leadership at USTR is crucial to the success of these talks and the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. Froman understands the complexities in each of these talks, and the opportunities that they present. This is also true of the effort to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks a speedy conclusion that yields a high-standard, comprehensive agreement.

The TPP is one of those new, fresh and innovative ways to liberalize trade among some of the fastest-growing markets in the world. And by introducing high-standard, rules-based disciplines across a range of new issues into the bloodstream of the international trading system, it's our expectation that it will ultimately help strengthen the multilateral trading system as well. We've got a lot of work to do to allow TPP to achieve its potential, but I'm confident that when analysts look back on this period, they'll see the TPP as one of the most important strategic initiatives of the Obama administration and in the global trading system. (CSIS, 1/4/2012)

ITI has developed a solid relationship with Froman in his role as President Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser for International and Economic Affairs. He has helped to forge a U.S. trade agenda that recognizes the 21^st century complexities of the global marketplace and the opportunities that forward-thinking partnerships can present. Given the number of potential market-opening items on our trade agenda, we at ITI hope the Senate will take prompt action to approve this nomination.

Similarly, the choice of Penny Pritzker to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce will bring proven business acumen to the department. With more than 25 years of experience in a variety of industries, as well as her leadership on the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Pritzker has shown not only an understanding of the challenges facing the U.S. economy, but also the ability to identify smart policy solutions that advance job creation and economic growth. Importantly, she understands the nexus between a strong U.S. economy and a talented, high-skilled U.S. workforce, as evidenced by her work on the advisory board for Skills for America’s Future.

Closing the skills gap will not be easy. But everyone can feel the benefits. American workers will have the ability to find and stay in good jobs. Employers will be able to identify applicants trained with the right skills on the front end. Our economy will be stronger and more competitive long term.

Only creative and meaningful partnerships can get the job done. It’s going to take U.S. businesses, educational institutions and government all working together to create a more competitive America and help students achieve the right skills for an ever-changing economy.

A robust economy is one that can supply the right people with the right skills at the right time. Innovative partnerships make this happen -- and ensure better news for America’s economic future in the century to come. (Politico, 6/9/2011)

The tech sector recognizes the urgent need to ensure that American businesses have access to the world’s top talent, and that, as a nation, we need to take stronger steps to develop the best and brightest minds here at home. We live in a knowledge-driven economy and, without those advanced workforce skills, the U.S. position as the world’s leader in innovation will be threatened.

Mike Froman and Penny Pritzker are excellent choices for these key positions. We look forward to their confirmation and working with them closely in their new roles.

Senate Commerce Committee schedules immigration hearing

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EDT

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled an immigration-focused hearing next Wednesday that will examine the role that foreign workers play in the United States' tech industry.

The hearing will look at the country's current immigration laws and their impact on economic growth, according to a hearing notice from the committee.

The hearing comes as the bipartisan Gang of Eight senators unveiled their highly anticipated immigration reform proposal earlier this month. Among the measures included in the sweeping bill, the legislation proposes to significantly increase the number of H-1B visas available to highly skilled and educated foreign workers.

To continue reading, please visit the official The Hill website.

Much Ado About Helium: A Noble Fight Over a Noble Gas

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:52:00 EDT

The need for legislation protecting the federal government’s helium supply didn’t just come out of thin air. Industry groups spoke up to help ease shortages.

It may be the second-most-common element in the universe, but a number of industries were feeling the pressure from an impending deadline affecting the country’s helium supply.

With a new bill in Congress, that pressure is likely to ease soon. And industry groups, especially in the scientific world, are thankful a federal program appears headed for a reprieve.

To continue reading, please visit the official Associations Now website.

A Renewed Pledge for American Innovation

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:59:00 EDT

Grey skies and rainy weather could not dampen the spirit of excitement and opportunity as the National Academy of Sciences today marked its 150th anniversary. President Obama was on hand, and offered a look not just at the legacy of America’s researchers, but also at the enormous opportunity that this generation and the coming generations of scientists will unlock. It’s not a speech that is likely to generate front-page news, but, for a sector that is as heavily dependent on research and cutting-edge innovation, his words certainly ring with value.

Here are excerpts from his remarks.

The good news is America remains a world leader in patents and scientific discovery. Our university system is the crown jewel of our economy as well as our civilization. And that’s what’s allowing us to continually replenish our stock of people who are willing to dream big dreams and reach higher than anybody else.

And what I want to communicate to all of you is, is that as long as I’m President, we’re going to continue to be committed to investing in the promising ideas that are generated from you and your institutions, because they lead to innovative products, they help boost our economy, but also because that’s who we are. I’m committed to it because that’s what makes us special and ultimately what makes life worth living.

One of the things that I’ve focused on as President is an all-hands-on-deck approach to the sciences, as well as technology and engineering and math. And that’s why we’re spending a lot of time focused on the next generation. With the help of John Holdren and everybody who’s working with my administration, we want to make sure that we are exciting young people around math and science and technology and computer science. We don’t want our kids just to be consumers of the amazing things that science generates; we want them to be producers as well. And we want to make sure that those who historically have not participated in the sciences as robustly -- girls, members of minority groups here in this country -- that they are encouraged as well.

We’ve got to make sure that we’re training great calculus and biology teachers, and encouraging students to keep up with their physics and chemistry classes. That includes Malia and Sasha. (Laughter.) It means teaching proper research methods and encouraging young people to challenge accepted knowledge. It means expanding and maintaining critical investments in biomedical research and helping innovators turn their discoveries into new businesses and products. And it means maintaining that spirit of discovery.

And we’ve got to make sure that we’re supporting that next generation of dreamers and risk-takers -- because if we are, things will be good. They leave me with extraordinary optimism. They leave me hopeful. They put a smile on my face. And I’m absolutely convinced that if this Academy and the successors who become members of this Academy are there at the center and the heart of our public debate, that we’ll be able to continue to use the innovation that powers our economy and improves our health, protects our environment and security, that makes us the envy of the world.

So, at a time when research budgets are tightened and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is too often an afterthought, it's important to remember that, to reach another milestone like the sesquicentennial mark reached today, the country needs to redouble its focus. The United States has long been and continues to be a nation of makers -- creative thinkers who are willing to dream big and act on their ideas. But in order to continue down this path, parents and teachers need to make sure students are armed with the right skills in math and science, and our policymakers need to ensure the nation's researchers are afforded an innovation-friendly ecosystem. The president's remarks today were a timely reminder that science and research are the lifeblood of not just innovation and job creation, but also lie at the core of who we are and must continue to be as a nation.

Here's to another 150 years!

Step Right Up and See the Fancy (and Flawed) EPI Data

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:46:00 EDT

My college statistics professor was the source of a truly memorable warning: “There are PT Barnums in data analysis who can easily influence people who’ve either never taken a statistics course or slept through one.” That’s good advice for policymakers because in major policy debates statistical wars usually occur, and some PT Barnums do surface.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is vying for the PT Barnum title. A recent EPI report reached a dramatic conclusion: The shortage of U.S. science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers is a myth. This seriously flawed “STEM supply is greater than demand” conclusion just does not jive with the most important real world data out there: thousands of unfilled STEM job openings.

Here’s a snapshot of STEM demand today:

Microsoft’s General Counsel, Brad Smith, recently told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Microsoft currently has more than 6,300 U.S. job openings, and more than half are in “core research, engineering and development.”
Mr. Smith also noted in his testimony that a group of 25 employers, ranging from AT&T to Accenture, together have more than 20,000 job openings in New York City alone.
Last month, Business Insider reported that the ten leading U.S. tech firms together had more than 26,000 U.S. job openings.
Dice.com, a website that aggregates publicly posted listings of IT positions, today reports there are more than 83,000 tech job openings in the U.S.

These job openings track with a December 2012 analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data we at ITI conducted with the Partnership for a New American Economy and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Our analysis found that numerous sectors of the U.S. economy that depend on Master’s and Ph.D. graduates are experiencing underemployment -- i.e., a skilled workforce shortage.

A national survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management reached similar conclusions: The survey found that two-thirds (66 percent) of organizations currently hiring full time staff are having difficulty recruiting for specific jobs -- up from 52 percent in 2011 -- and scientists, engineers, and highly skilled technicians were cited as the top three most difficult positions to fill.

Absent changes in policy, BLS data also suggest that the mismatch of U.S. STEM demand in excess of supply will get worse. The BLS estimated that approximately 122,000 new job openings will be created each year in computing occupations requiring at least a Bachelor’s Degree through the end of the decade. However, U.S. universities currently produce annually roughly 51,000 Bachelor’s degrees in computer science. And in one emerging field – Big Data – a recent McKinsey Report predicts we could see a possible shortfall of up to 190,000 experts with deep analytical skills and an astounding 1.5 million “data-savvy” managers and analysts during the next five years.

So, the EPI report is challenging some pretty tough real world data. This would suggest, for EPI at least, that U.S. employers are engaged in a massive conspiracy to advertise for U.S. STEM jobs that do not exist. The conspiracy also would have to include job forecasters from firms like McKinsey, who are suggesting that STEM demand over supply is bound to get worse. Perhaps more shocking, the conspiracy would also have to involve federal government analysts at the BLS who have produced data that contradict EPI’s fundamental conclusion. That’s quite a conspiracy. I wonder if EPI thinks we faked the moon landing.

An initial review of the EPI report itself is just as disturbing. To support its conclusion, EPI first points to a 2009 survey of STEM college majors one year after their graduation, and the data reveal that of those surveyed, just over half are hired in a STEM job.

Time out.

The EPI is saying that STEM supply exceeds demand for the entire U.S. economy based on surveys of newly minted STEM college graduates in entry-level jobs in 2009 -- when the U.S. economy was mired in the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

[Read that last sentence again, but more slowly.]

Really? Can we actually conclude that the perspectives of first-year college graduates during a massive economic recession is a good read on the present and future of the overall U.S. STEM economy? Clearly not. For those who think otherwise, give me a call. I have some monuments here in D.C. for sale you might be interested in.

Interestingly, two of the EPI study’s authors made a similarly flawed conclusion in a 2007 report for the Urban Institute. Stuart Anderson, who runs the National Foundation of the American Policy, noted significant flaws in their 2007 analysis, citing data from the National Science Foundation (NSF). I’ll let Stuart do the talking:

“To reach its conclusion that America is producing too much talent, the Urban Institute sought to match science-related jobs with U.S. degree production by using a definition of science and engineering (S&E) jobs that excluded 8 million employed U.S. professionals who use their math and science degrees in the place of work.”

Mr. Anderson, one of the more careful policy analysts in Washington, cautioned that “attempts to identify the precise number of workers needed in a given field [are]… impossible, given the vagaries of consumer demand, competition, future economic conditions and the potential impact of innovations in the marketplace.”

Apparently, Mr. Anderson’s advice did not stop the 2007 report’s authors from reviving this faulty thinking in 2013, and frankly, I am actually impressed they got the funding.

The EPI report doesn’t provide a clear definition of a STEM job. Certainly, a position at traditional information technology (IT) or computer firms, such as Oracle or HP, is easy to understand. However, as NSF data make clear, millions of non-traditional STEM jobs require STEM skills, a fact that makes the competition for STEM talent even stronger.

The EPI report also suggests that if STEM demand exceeded supply generally, we should see a general increase in wages. However, the report uses or analyzes data across the entire range of computer and IT industries, which masks salary increases in specialized, highly skilled professions.

Where there are short supplies of talent, we have seen increases in compensation. For example, since 1999, wages for computer research scientists have increased 54 percent, and for software engineers, the increase has been 52 percent over the same period -- well ahead of inflation. And for high demand fields like mobile application developers, and wireless network engineers, salaries are expected to increase by nearly 10 percent in the near term.

The EPI report also suggests that temporary visas have created downward pressure on wages for U.S. workers. This finding contradicts a wide range of studies, including 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) data that made apples to apples comparisons of skilled talent and found that H-1B professionals earn comparable and, in some cases, higher wages than U.S. professionals of similar age and experience. For example, the GAO found that the median salary of H-1B electrical engineers, ages 20-39, was $80,000, but for U.S. workers, the median salary was $75,000.

I could go on, and I expect others will come forward with more perspectives on the EPI report, but the lesson is clear: There are a few PT Barnums out there who will tell policymakers to look at their fancy data and ignore what’s going on in the real world. That’s why it’s important to look carefully at analyses on all sides of an argument, and the sources themselves.

Senators stall vote on Internet sales tax for now

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:00:00 EDT

A handful of lawmakers have stalled the U.S. Senate from voting on legislation that would require large Internet and catalog sellers to collect state sales taxes from their customers.

Supporters of the Marketplace Fairness Act still hope to vote on the bill on Friday or Saturday. The bill would allow states to collect sales tax on large Internet sellers that have no presence within their borders, curtailing the ability of Internet shoppers to avoid sales tax. Businesses with less than $1 million in annual Internet sales would be exempt from collecting the sales taxes.

To continue reading, please visit the official PCWorld website.

US Senate plans crackdown on visa ‘abusers’

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:30:00 EDT

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IT outsourcing companies that rely heavily on foreign workers will face tough new rules under proposed immigration legislation being considered in the Senate, which wants to crack down on “abusers” of the H-1B highly skilled visa system.

Much of the immigration reform debate has centred on the need for more skilled engineers and scientists to help US companies innovate, with Silicon Valley leading the charge.

But official figures show that the leading recipients of H-1B visas are IT outsourcing companies, most of them based in India.

To continue reading, please visit the official Financial Times website.

ITI Grows Advocacy Team with Tax, Cyber Specialists

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:26:00 EDT

WASHINGTON, D.C.... The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is enhancing its policy expertise with the addition of two Capitol Hill veterans specializing in cybersecurity and tax issues. Maryam Cope and Miguel A. Martínez, Jr., soon will join ITI.

“ITI’s issue advocacy is a dynamic practice, and Maryam and Miguel will provide critical leadership in ever-evolving areas. Their experience, proven results, and collaborative approach will prove essential to the tech sector’s long-term success,” ITI President & CEO Dean C. Garfield explained.

Maryam Cope is a five-year veteran of the U.S. Senate, serving on the staff of former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where her issue portfolio included cybersecurity, standards, federal research, and telecommunications. These are key issues of focus for ITI, and Cope’s understanding of the intricacies involved will be central to advancing the tech sector’s innovation-focused priorities.

“Maintaining security, privacy, and resiliency in cyberspace is an evolving challenge faced by the government, the private sector, and individual citizens. As ever more essential services and data move online and to the cloud, it is imperative to advance policies that are relevant to emerging technologies, strengthen security, foster innovation, and protect privacy,” Cope said. “My years on the Hill demonstrated that if any group in D.C. can provide constructive and valuable input on tech policy, it is ITI. I couldn't be more pleased to join the ITI team, and I look forward to working with all the stakeholder groups to advance the best policies and practices.”

Miguel A. Martínez, Jr., joins ITI after serving for four years as Tax and Benefits Counsel for U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. -- a senior member of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Martinez also served as a tax practitioner for three years prior to his joining Rep. Lewis’ staff. At ITI, Martinez will lead efforts to advance a competitive U.S. market-based tax system that enhances innovation. He also will help to address the many tax issues emerging for the sector globally.

“I am very much excited to join the team at ITI. From immigration reform to tax policy, ITI is leading the way on Capitol Hill just as its member companies lead the way in today's economy. As Congress prepares to tackle tax reform, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work for and represent the tech sector,” Martinez stated.

ITI is the premier advocacy and policy organization for the world’s leading innovation companies. ITI navigates the relationships between policymakers, companies, and non-governmental organizations, providing creative solutions that advance the development and use of technology around the world. Visit itic.org to learn more.

Media contact: Meghan Fletcher, mfletcher@itic.org, (202) 524-4389

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US-India Business Council, TIA and DeiTY want clarity on preferential market access to telecom gearmakers

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:00:00 EDT

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA : Powerful trade bodies in the US want India to clear the air on whether preferential market access (PMA) given to domestic telecom gearmakers on security grounds will only apply to government contracts or will also include private procurements.

Three leading US trade bodies - the US-India Business Council, Information Technology Industry Council and Telecommunications Industry Association ( TIA) - want the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeiTY) to put in a clarification that the "PMA policy does not apply to the private sector, which includes managed service providers and telecom licensees".

To continue reading, please visit the official Economic Times website.

DESSC Gets a New Look

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:39:00 EDT

43 years ago, the United States created Earth Day -- and 20 million Americans worked to reshape our environment from one where air pollution was a price of doing business to one where clean air and clean water were considered valuable legacies to be protected and enhanced. Today, it is a moment to look at the modern challenges we all face -- and the cutting-edge solutions that will drive our ability as a society to be sustainable for the longer term.

For us at the Digital Energy and Sustainability Solutions Campaign (DESSC), Earth Day is an opportunity to take a fresh look at our own priorities and how we present our digital solutions to the broader community.

During the past few months, we have been dusting up digitalenergysolutions.org. We have gone through every page, updating our look as well as our content. We have shaped smarter policy pages to better provide examples of how we hope to see governments encourage the spread of technology-enabled energy and sustainability initiatives. We’ve added a media section to better highlight our activities and provide users like you with opportunities to explore videos and learn more about the environmental benefits of utilizing new technologies. And we’re continuously updating our Knowledge Center with white papers and case studies that exemplify the principles on which DESSC is built.

We hope this new site will serve as a resource for information on technology as it relates to energy efficiency and sustainability. Please take a minute to explore and discover some of the reports and videos we have collected. And feel free to share if you have any other materials to send our way. Contact me or Meghan Fletcher.

When Earth Day marked its 25^th anniversary, founder and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson spoke of the challenges ahead. “Reaching a general understanding that sustainability is the ultimate issue will finally bring us face-to-face with the political challenge of forging a sustainable society during the next few decades. It is a challenge we can meet if we have the leadership and the political will to do so.” We hope that the DESSC site -- and the ideas and initiatives that it showcases -- will help to meet that goal of forging a lasting, healthy, sustainable Earth.

ITI Urges Senators to Reject Tax Hike on Online Entrepreneurs

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:58:00 EDT

WASHINGTON, D.C… A Senate proposal to raise taxes on small businesses and online entrepreneurs would be a prescription for slowed job creation, the nonpartisan Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) warned today.

This week, the Senate is poised to do an end-run around its regular process to rush the Marketplace Fairness Act to the floor for a debate and vote. The move will circumvent any consideration by the Senate Finance Committee, which has responsibility for tax issues, and whose chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has expressed opposition to this approach.

“What bothers me is there is a lot of easy talk about how good this is, how fair it is, and nobody has thought through all the unintended consequences and all the problems that could arise,” Baucus said during last month’s budget resolution debate.

“The Marketplace Fairness Act would impose a costly mandate on small businesses and online entrepreneurs by requiring them to collect and remit state sales taxes in numerous tax jurisdictions across the country, including ones where they have no physical presence at all,” explained ITI Director of Government Relations Andy Halataei.

“The bill’s small business exemption is extremely inadequate, and if enacted, would have a stifling effect on small retailers that have moved to online channels to sell their products. Congress has been unwilling to embrace this approach in the past and now is not the time to raise taxes on small businesses,” Halataei added.

Media contact: Meghan Fletcher, mfletcher@itic.org, (202) 524-4389

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U.S-India Business Council Wants Clarity on PMA 'Gearmakers' Contracts

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:42:00 EDT

The U.S. trade bodies demand to know that if the preferential market access (PMA) provided to domestic telecom ‘kit manufacturers’ will only be applicable to government contracts or will also include private procurements, reports Gulveen Aulakh & Kalyan Parbat, ET Bureau.

Three of the powerful U.S. trade bodies, the US-India Business Council, Information Technology Industry Council and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) want clarification from the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeiTY), if the PMA policy is not applicable to the private sector.

To continue reading, please visit the official Silicon India News website.

APEC Calls for Conclusion of ITA Expansion Talks by mid-2013

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:32:00 EDT

Trade ministers from APEC’s 21 economies descended on the sprawling city of Surabaya in East Java this weekend in their annual discussions to promote trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Though progress was achieved on a number of fronts, the tech community especially welcomed the clarion call issued by the ministers to conclude negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) by the middle of this year, and that the outcome should be “commercially significant.”

This was included in the weekend’s Statement on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System and WTO 9th Ministerial Conference:

Building on the progress to date, APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade call on ITA participants to swiftly conclude negotiations to expand the product coverage of the WTO ITA by the middle of the year and seek expanded membership of the ITA. A final ITA expansion outcome should be commercially significant, credible, pragmatic, balanced, and reflective of the dynamic technological developments in the information technology sector over the last 16 years. Such an outcome would support several APEC objectives, including strengthening the multilateral trading system, promoting connectivity, supporting regional economic integration, and driving economic development throughout APEC economies.

Now accounting for 40 percent the world population, 54 percent of global GDP, and 44 percent world trade, APEC played a critical role in birthing the ITA in the mid-1990s. It’s only appropriate that APEC is actively engaged in taking the agreement to a whole new level through a significant expansion of products covered by the ITA.

Another round of ITA expansion talks kick off in Geneva on Monday. The APEC ministers’ supportive words should give the negotiators a good boost and a stronger mandate to get an ambitious outcome by the middle of this year.

Japan and the TPP

Another welcome development from APEC is the joint statement by the current members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. Japan’s pending entry gets strong play:

Ministers also confirmed that each TPP member has concluded bilateral consultations with Japan regarding Japan's interest in joining the TPP. Today, Ministers agreed by consensus to finalize with Japan the process for entry in a manner that allows the negotiations to continue expeditiously toward conclusion -- as was done with other members that joined the negotiations in progress. Japan can then join the TPP negotiations upon completion of current members' respective domestic processes.

In an interview posted today on the Wall Street Journal site, Acting USTR Demetrios Marantis underscored the importance of this progress:

Integrating Japan into the TPP does a number of things. One, it helps to realize the goal of TPP as being a platform for integration in the Asia-Pacific, and having Japan and the size of its economy and population increases the economic significance of the TPP not just to the U.S. but to all the TPP countries. It provides a huge market for exports and for the jobs that are supported by those exports. Bringing Japan in really just increases the economic significance of the TPP.

Japan’s entry in the TPP has epic implications both commercially and strategically. This endorsement by all 11 members of the TPP represents an important political step forward towards getting Japan into the negotiations expeditiously.

Local Content Requirements and Innovation

Two other useful data points were tucked into the official statement of the 2013 Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade.

We welcome the trade policy dialogue to discuss the economic impact ways to avoid the use of local content requirements in promoting economic growth and employment. We take note of the initiative to continue discussion among officials aimed at enhancing better understanding of the issues and formulating a way forward.

Local content requirements are looming large on the global economic stage. They are massively disruptive to the same global supply chains the tech sector so heavily depends on. It is encouraging APEC’s work in this area is beginning to get traction, including presentations earlier this month by several experts at APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment.

Finally, the trade ministers gave a decent nod in their official statement to ongoing work in APEC to promote effective innovation policy:

We reaffirm our commitment to promote effective and non-discriminatory innovation policy, including through developing and finalizing implementation practices by October 2013.

This gives a shot in the arm to on-going collaborative work between the tech sector and the U.S. government to lead an effort to convene a APEC conference on trade and innovation in late June in Medan, Indonesia. ITI has been heavily involved in this work.

Bipartisan House Members Urge President Obama to Get ITA Expansion Done This Year

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:48:00 EDT

It’s another good day for the global campaign to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the accompanying prospects for fostering growth, innovation, and jobs. This afternoon, U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Ron Kind, D-Wisc., along with 39 of their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a letter to President Obama saying:

[S]ustained U.S. political leadership at the highest levels will be necessary to get a robust expansion of the agreement and achieve a significant trade win this year. We do not want America to miss this opportunity to grow jobs, foster innovation, and spur economic growth through trade, and we urge you to devote the necessary resources and political focus to get an ambitious outcome in 2013.

Negotiations in Geneva to expand this important agreement have been making good headway since they began last May, but continued strong leadership from the White House will be needed if we are to get ITA expansion across the finish line this year.

Today’s letter truly reflects the strong, bipartisan support for ITA expansion in Congress. Twenty-five of those members of Congress that co-signed the letter are members of the House Ways & Means Committee. That’s two-thirds of all the members of that powerful committee, which oversees trade policy for the U.S. House.

This impressive show of support from Congress is deeply appreciated by the tech community, which has been collaborating closely with the Administration to advance this initiative. We also applaud Reps. Roskam and Kind for their leadership to send this letter and raise greater awareness of the importance of ITA expansion for the U.S. economy.

The import of this work for the U.S. and the global economies cannot be understated. The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation estimates that ITA expansion would increase U.S. exports of tech products by $2.8 billion annually, expand global GDP by $190 billion, and support the creation of roughly 60,000 new American jobs.

The current ITA eliminated tariffs on a wide range of products. But despite the introduction of myriad new products (such as GPS systems, next generation semiconductors, and Bluetooth devices), not a single additional product line has been added to the ITA since it went into force in 1997.

This strong show of congressional support comes on the eve of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ meeting this weekend in Surabaya, Indonesia, where it's expected the 21 APEC economies will also step up with a call for a commercially significant ITA expansion this year. This also comes just before the next round of ITA expansion talks set to take place in Geneva next week.

By contributing their leadership to this critical global campaign that will advance U.S. innovation and economic growth, 39 members of the U.S. Congress are making it more likely we will see an expanded ITA in the near future.