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The President today selected three new leaders for his Cabinet who, together, will be critical for the success of America’s businesses, and particularly the technology sector. The Secretary of Energy, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are three individuals whose work will shape the direction of the United States [...]
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Think of helium, and we think birthday balloons and silly high-pitched voices. But helium plays a number of critical roles in our economy – from health care to high-tech manufacturing. Helium is a key component in MRI machines, for instance, and we couldn’t make the semiconductors for our computers and other electronics without it. That’s why a looming cut-off of helium sales is so concerning, and [...]
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In his Inaugural Address today, President Obama combined poetry and prose as he spoke about the priorities that he will bring to his second term in office. For many of these issues, the technology sector has put forward ideas with backing from both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress. The challenge consistently has been building broader support to move policies from good proposals to new [...]
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Sparky Anderson, who managed World Series-winning teams in Cincinnati and Detroit, once remarked, “We’re getting close to opening day. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.” January 3rd, 2013 marked American policymaking’s opening day: the start of the 113th Congress. We in the tech industry see the start of a new season of policymaking as a good thing because ours is an industry rooted [...]
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This past Wednesday in Brussels, the European Union (EU) hosted a “Workshop on a possible comprehensive ‘EU initiative on minerals originating from conflict areas’.” This particular forum was limited to EU officials and invited experts from the OECD, academia, civil society and the business community. The EU will likely advance the initiative in 2013, first with a public consultation and subsequently [...]
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“Our top priority has to be jobs and growth . . . providing more Americans the chance to learn the skills that businesses are looking for right now; keeping this country at the forefront of research, technology and clean energy.” That’s how President Obama opened his first post-election news conference, before spending the majority of time talking about anything but job creation. Ok, in the President’s [...]
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ITI is in Geneva, Switzerland, all week, actively participating with dozens of governments and other stakeholders in the 8th meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG 8) of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. If you’re still reading after that introduction…thank you! We are here representing the global high-tech sector and throwing [...]
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The New York Times this week shined a light on the tech sector’s energy efficiency work – and there has been plenty of reaction to the major inaccuracies in the paper’s articles. ITI took time recently to talk innovation with Kathrin Winkler, the chief sustainability officer for EMC, about the broader issues facing the sector’s energy and environmental work. Given the Times’ articles and misinformation, [...]
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Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put in place new requirements for publicly traded companies to disclose whether they source listed minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or adjoining countries. Known in short-hand as the conflict-minerals rule, the requirements cover companies across the economic spectrum. First, let me be clear: Any mining activities [...]
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It is easy to forget during this political season that there are positive examples of the public and private sectors working together to advance shared interests. This week, ITI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly convened a dialogue on the ENERGY STAR® program that reaffirms the mutual benefits that strong and focused public-private cooperation can generate. Twenty years [...]
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