President Barack Obama is expected to soon announce his selection for Chief Technology Officer of the U.S., the first time such a role will be filled. The job could have significant implications for the high-tech industry, solution providers say, but warn that it's important to provide the CTO with tools that are up to the task.
Some are even just a bit dubious about the prospect of a nationwide CTO.
"We've got multiple segments of government all with their own CTOs," said Joel Schleicher, CEO of Presidio (VARBusiness 500 rank 69). "Why do we need a CTO of CTOs? It's not like the government has been buying technology without rhyme or reason. I'm not sure a CTO tech czar will add anything without having budget responsibility."
Others argue that the value of having a U.S. CTO is the same as what it would be to a private-sector company: It's a position charged with setting the vision and strategy around key technologies.
"A good CTO has a good mix of both understanding technology and also understanding the market," said Colleen Smith, director of SaaS at Progress Software (2008 VARBusiness vendor 40 list rank 34). "The biggest difference between a CIO and a CTO is that the role of the CTO is to bring the combination of technology and market awareness—the role is more focused on how technology addresses business drivers, where a CIO is usually just focused just on IT."
So it might well be that the CTO will be tied in to figuring out how technology can be factored into any economic stimulus package.
Still others see it as an opportunity to improve the country's technological infrastructure.
Nationwide Broadband
"The U.S. penetration of high-speed, affordable Internet access to the home is woefully inadequate when compared to some other areas of the world," said Bob Cagnazzi, president of BlueWater Communications Group, New York. "Japan and Korea are good examples of affordable, extremely high-speed Internet access provided in a ubiquitous fashion. Long term, this becomes a competitive disadvantage for the U.S. in the global marketplace. I would hope a U.S. CTO would be prepared to address this issue." The position would likely have a big impact on how technology would be positioned within the classroom as well.
"What would it take to have high-speed broadband Internet in every school in the country? How would this change the quality of education, the nature of education, and how can we use this to get kids excited about technology and being a part of this country's future technology?" asked Leah Jamieson, Ph.D., 2007 president of the IEEE and the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University. "This is an opportunity to speak to the younger generation in a way that is very different. I think the opportunity there is huge."

The biggest task confronting the new CTO will be to determine how technology can be used to serve citizens, moving the nation in a direction that will improve the U.S.' global competitiveness. Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of industry group CompTIA, noted that the IT industry is the focal point of innovation and productivity in the U.S., with one in 12 people identifying themselves as working in an IT field.
"[That] means our country has a huge reliance on the industry as an engine of job growth," he said. "It makes perfect sense to have a high-level administration official whose job it is to listen to the industry, understand their needs and to make sure policies are not put in place which impede the ability to grow."
In addition, the individual would act as a type of ambassador of IT to the world at large.
"A good CTO choice would understand how we can highlight advancements in technology and bring these advancements to the world," said Smith. "If you look at technologies such as search and social computing, a good CTO for the U.S. will look at ways in which we can better exploit the use of such technologies on a worldwide basis to better participate in global relationships and help to drive adoption of U.S.-based technologies in more global organizations."
Green Technology
President Obama has said he is particularly interested in "green" technology and is focused on investing in such clean technologies as part of any economic stimulus plan. Many vendors are trying to get ahead of the curve, investing in and promoting their own environmentally responsible programs. For example, Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox CTO, said sustainable and environmentally conscious technologies are a priority right now, and the U.S. should be leading the charge in investing in and funding green research.
The nation should work with other world leaders in increasing transparency and sharing knowledge in an effort to reverse climate change and create a sustainable world, she said.
H1-B Visas
Despite the economic slowdown, solution providers and their vendor partners are seeing a continued shortage of qualified workers that will likely continue into the foreseeable future. BlueWater's Cagnazzi and Vandebroek encouraged the new U.S. CTO to work with immigration to loosen the current restriction on H1-B visas, noting that the shortage is extremely harmful to global competitiveness—not only are U.S organizations short-staffed on implementing technological innovation, but talented people are seeking employment in other countries, thereby enriching global competitors.
Cagnazzi agreed, adding that to accomplish that, attention should be turned toward improving student education in math and science.
"As CTOs in private technology companies focus on R&D, so should the national CTO's priority be to recommit to R&D and develop and invest in rebuilding the degrading science, technology and math/engineering foundation of the United States," he said.