Silicon Valley leaders look at future

Bill Joy is waiting for a hit mobile device that will allow the Internet to connect people in ways that most can’t even foresee. John Chambers wants a better public education system. And nearly everyone gathered at a technology summit Monday wants more and better high-speed Internet access for the masses.

By Michael Bazeley

Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/10193729.htm?1c

Monday was a day when Silicon Valley’s heaviest hitters put aside their business plans and day-to-day worries and riffed on the future of technology, innovation and U.S. competitiveness. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt imagined a personalized iPod-like device, and Intel President Paul Otellini looked forward to the day when wireless technology will finally make high-speed Internet ubiquitous.

The occasion was an “innovation summit” organized by the technology industry’s advocacy group, TechNet. Google hosted the event at its Mountain View campus, and PBS talk-show host Charlie Rose moderated the panels of valley chief executives and other luminaries.

Rose’s show taped the discussions, which will air beginning this week as four episodes. Rose’s show airs weekdays on KQED (Ch. 9) at midnight.

Panelists included venture capitalist John Doerr, Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel, Chambers from Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorna.

The marriage of wireless technologies and the Internet was a common theme. Doerr said his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has invested in half a dozen companies involved in wireless technologies.

And Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, said he is eager for the day when everyone has an intelligent, Treo-like device that uses the Web to help schedule trips, manage time and organize the fire hose of information that bombards people daily.

“Our lives are overwhelmed with information coming at us,” Joy said. “We hunger for something that will help us make sense of the chaos.”

Schmidt, of Google, picked up on that theme later.

“The next killer device is a clearly a personal one,” Schmidt said. “The one I personally favor is putting all the world’s information into the equivalent of an iPod, which will be possible in the next five to 10 years. And if you can’t quite do that, your wireless connection will help you get what you need.”

Lobbying the government is a key part of TechNet’s mission, and Doerr and others spoke to the limited but crucial role the government should play in helping spur innovation.

“There are three things we need the government to do,” Doerr said: Invest in research, invest in education, and foster an environment where innovation can thrive.

Nearly all the participants agreed that the lack of widespread high-speed Internet access has held back adoption. U.S. broadband penetration is below 50 percent and lags behind other developed nations, such as South Korea.

“A country like Korea is totally broadband,” Semel said. “It all comes back to broadband. It changes everything we do.”

Rose asked why broadband penetration in the United States is so low relative to the rest of the developed world.

Doerr cited the physical vastness of the United States, high prices and what he said were conflicting government regulations. But Joy said the lack of competition in many areas has stalled the spread of high-speed lines.

“We didn’t have government leadership saying we need to do this,” Joy said. “If there wasn’t strong competition between the cable and phone companies, broadband didn’t get rolled out.”

The country’s competitiveness with other countries also found its way into many discussions. As they have repeatedly over the years, executives said the United States must invest more heavily and intelligently in its schools.

“The U.S. is falling behind in education,” Chambers said. “You look at China, and they will guarantee that 25 percent of their college students will graduate with a degree in the computer sciences. I think that’s the biggest challenge we face.”

Contact Michael Bazeley at [email protected] or (408) 920-5642.