Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://www.southasiainvestor.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ
Showing posts with label high technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high technology. Show all posts
Vida, a San Francisco technology startup co-founded by Umaimah Mendhro from Akri village in Sindh, Pakistan, has received $1.3 million funding from Google Ventures, Universal Music Group and others, according to Tech Crunch.
The startup bills itself as "socially responsible" with the objective of using technology to provide a way for designers, artists and other creatives anywhere in the world to make a viable living through their work.
Vida CEO Umaima Mendhro joins a growing list of successful Pakistani-American women that includes Shama Zehra in finance, Shaan Kandawalla in technology, Shazia Sikandar in the Arts and Fatima Ali in fine cuisine.
“I am from a very small town in Pakistan and was home-schooled much of my life because we didn’t have proper schools around. I taught myself how to cut, sketch, sew, stitch, block print, screen print, oil paint, and more,” she told Tech Crunch. “Yet I couldn’t get myself to pursue art as a profession because I feared I wouldn’t be able to make a living with it,” Mendhro said. “With a love for fashion and design, I was also acutely aware of the hundreds of millions of people employed in textile and garment production, who could never get out of a cycle of poverty.”
Vida brings together painters, photographers, graphic designers, sculptors, 3D artists, architects, and textile and print designers from around the world who participate in the platform at no cost, then receive a 10% revenue share on products sold. Additionally, VIDA often works with its textile mills, printers, and cut and sew factories, removing the middleman costs from the equation. Vida uses "Direct to Fabric Digital Printing Technology" for its offerings.
Currently, VIDA designers include: Elle Magazine's 'Up and Coming Fashion Designer from Sweden, Emma Lundgren,' Vogue.com's top 10 fashion graduates to watch, Cigdem Keskin from Turkey, and Tokyo based 'Top Hat Designer of the Year,' Honoyo Imai. Manufacturing partners include: Karachi based fashion label and manufacturing houses, Sania Maskatiya and FNKAsia.
Umaimah has a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Here's what she says about herself in her intro on HBS website: "I want to live a life that compels people who do not seem to share a common thread to see if, at a raw human level, we really are that different. A life that gives people reason to reason for themselves... to pause and question the comfortable assumptions. To form and inform beliefs. And never give up common sense for common opinion."
Here's a CNN story on Smartphone apps success in Pakistan:
NASDAQ IPO of Silicon Valley's cyber security firm Fire-eye has made its Pakistani-American founder Ashar Aziz worth $430 million at the market close on Friday, according an estimate by Forbes magazine.
The high-tech company priced its initial public offering of 15.2 million shares at $20 per share late Thursday, raising about $304 million after increasing its expected price range to $15 to $17 per share.
Shares of FEYE were trading up by more than 100% during the day before closing up $16 or 80% to $36.00 on the Nasdaq Friday. FEYE closed up another 4% to $37.45 on Monday.
Aziz owns about 10.91 million shares in the Milipitas, Calif.-based security company; that 9.3% stake after the offering alone is now worth more than $392 million.
Fireeye Founder and CTO Ashar Aziz
FireEye, founded in 2004, has a virtualization engine which protects its customers' infrastructure from attacks that may come through the web and email. Its dynamic virtual cloud analyzes incoming data, providing real-time intelligence to its users.
FireEye is riding high on a wave of growing cyber security concerns amid increasing cyber attacks being reported almost daily from around the globe. FireEye's founder Ashar Aziz is among the top recognized experts in the field of Internet and computer security. With the $50 million round from top investors in January 2013, the company raised $100 million in venture money before going public. The venture funding came from investors including Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, Juniper Networks, Silicon Valley Bank, and others. Several other security companies including Illumio, CipherCloud, Mocana have recently significant sums of money from venture capital firms.
Here's a video of Ashar talking about the effectiveness of his technology in blocking new and previously unidentified attacks by not relying on signatures:
In the "New Economy", the most important single asset for any nation is the intellectual capital it develops by educating its people well. Investment in education could not be better described than by the words used by the Chinese genius Kuan Chung centuries ago: "If you plan for a year, plant a seed; if for 10 years, plant a tree; if for a 100 years, teach the people. When you sow a seed once, you reap a single harvest; when you teach the people, you will reap a 100 harvests."
Here is a piece by Pakistani scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan that further elaborates on how to develop Pakistan's intellectual capital to make the nation prosper in the new economy: KRL (Khan Research Lab in Kahuta, Pakistan) used to organize many international conferences on important technological and scientific subjects, usually covering those disciplines that were of direct relevance and importance to them. The aim of such conferences was to gather together a large number of participants from abroad to provide Pakistani scientists and engineers an opportunity to interact with foreign experts, exchange views, seek their guidance and initiate contacts with them for future studies abroad. These conferences covered such varied subjects as vacuum technology, advanced materials, phase transformations, software engineering, fluid dynamics, super conductors, magnetic materials, mechanical vibrations, and biomedical sciences. It also enabled Pakistani scientists and engineers to present their research papers in the presence of foreign experts, which gave them self-confidence and enabled them to learn from constructive criticism and advice. The conferences attracted professors and experts from countries including Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, China, Egypt, Germany, Holland, India, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and the USA. It was an extremely healthy exercise which, unfortunately, has since been discontinued.
When I started our enrichment program in 1976, and later the weapons program in 1981, I found out that the standard of our graduates was far below that of European graduates. Not only did they lack in basic knowledge, but there was also a severe dearth of self-confidence. I selected those I considered to be the best for my initial team and, thanks to their dedication and willingness to learn, we managed to complete the program in a relatively short span of time.
I still vividly remember how, during one of the interviews, we ran into a cocky physicist who was all out to impress us with his brilliant educational record, having secured first position every time and being on the Honor Roll in the M.Sc. physics programme at the Government College, Lahore. I just listened while my colleagues did the questioning. At the end I asked him to show graphically the linear relationship between two quantities. I was shocked by the fact that he was unable to do so. I then asked him how he would determine by a simple experiment whether or not a small piece of wire was a conductor or a semi-conductor. Again we drew a blank.
Years later, there was an annual get-together of old Ravians where I was invited as chief guest. The late Dr Arif (advisor to the late Chief Minister Wyne), the late Mr Hanif Ramay (a former chief minister), Mr Majid Nizami and other Ravians paid tributes to their Alma Mater, claiming that the affairs of Pakistan were being run by Ravians. I could not help remarking that Pakistan's condition in all spheres did not speak highly of their performance.
While studying in Germany, Holland and Belgium, we visited many industrial units and other universities to broaden our vision. In my case, I visited such industries and institutes in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England, Austria, Italy, Sweden and Denmark and gained invaluable knowledge and experience from it.
I would like to do justice to the graduates of the various institutions by stressing that the fault was (and is) not theirs. It is the outdated system and lack of facilities that hold them back and prevent them from becoming well-equipped and well-informed. During one of the conferences mentioned above, a British professor asked what the monthly fee at a public university was. When informed what this nominal amount was, he quipped: "Well, you can see that from the end-product."
One serious defect in our educational system in general, and our scientific and technological education in particular, is that most of it is based on rote learning. Also, facilities are inadequate. For the greater part, studies consist of memorizing the answers to question papers of the past five years without any attempt to encourage comprehension of the subject. After graduating from this system, students have not fully developed their natural talents. The high school exam is a tough nut to crack because of the number of subjects. As one proceeds into higher education it becomes relatively easier because the subject matter is more limited.
This has resulted in a number of cases of fake high school certificates followed by genuine B.A. and B.Sc. degrees. After an M.Sc. degree from a Pakistani university, studying abroad for a Ph.D. becomes a question of time and some effort. In most cases the supervisor and other doctoral students help, especially if the student is from a Third World country. A Ph.D. degree is obtained while acquiring a lot of knowledge on a very limited subject. Since the foundation was weak to start off with, subsequent building blocks cannot be expected to be solid and strong.
In order to overcome this deficiency, we had initiated a novel program at KRL. We recruited the best B.Sc. degree holders available and then sent them to the UK to study at good universities to obtain B.Sc.(Hons.) degrees in various disciplines. This basic grounding gave them the solid foundation required. Some were allowed to continue for an M.Sc. degree, came back, worked for a few years and were then again allowed to go for Ph.D. work.
Although this was somewhat costly in financial terms, these engineers and scientists turned out to be great assets to us. They were not only competent, but did not hesitate in taking initiatives. The principle behind this was taken from my own experiences. I had gone to Germany after completing my B.Sc. I obtained a thorough grounding for five years before earning an M.Sc. Technology and then went on to complete a doctor of engineering degree. It was this solid base that later enabled me to handle the most difficult and complicated enrichment and missile programmes.
Coming back to engineering education, I would like to point out that engineering is a diverse, wide-ranging profession offering challenging careers in a wide range of areas. One should realise that, within any area of engineering, professional engineers are involved in a wide range of different activities such as design, research, development, production and marketing. Only engineers with good qualities, abilities, skills and initiative to a high level of technical expertise can cope with such a challenge.
A very serious shortcoming in the development of the capabilities of our engineers is the absence of industrial training during their studies. When I went to Berlin, it was compulsory to have at least six months of practical industrial training before joining the university. In my particular case, I had spent three months at Siemens in Karachi and then six months in Germany, working during the day and learning German in the evening, as all courses were taught in German. Having acquired that practical experience even before starting my studies was an invaluable asset.
Unfortunately, this practice is not followed in Pakistan as most industries don't offer such facilities. Our government should make such practical experience compulsory too, either before starting studies or during the course of the studies. I have heard that this is indeed the practice at some universities, but I was unable to confirm it. For both scientists and engineers there are always challenges to face and to solve, laws of nature to be determined and items of use to humankind to be invented and produced. Some of the things that are of daily use in our life now seemed impossible a generation ago. This was aptly expressed by Robert H Goddard in these words: "It is difficult to say what is impossible for the dream of yesterday, is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."
Investment in education could not be better described than by the words used by the Chinese genius Kuan Chung centuries ago: "If you plan for a year, plant a seed; if for 10 years, plant a tree; if for a 100 years, teach the people. When you sow a seed once, you reap a single harvest; when you teach the people, you will reap a 100 harvests."
In my last article I had mentioned the invaluable advice given by the great Muslim scholar Yaqub Ibn Ishaq al-Kundi, that one should not be ashamed to ask questions to determine the truth and to acknowledge this fact without any hesitation.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or Drones designed and manufactured in Pakistan have been making news since IDEAS 2008 event in November of last year. Also in the news has been the growing reliance on armed drones (aka predators) by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan's FATA region to target militants with increasing casualties. This post is an attempt to put these headlines in perspective for those interested in the 21st century high tech warfare.
Back in 1970, the U.S. Army Gen. William Westmoreland is reported to have said: “On the battlefield of the future, enemy forces will be located, tracked and targeted almost instantaneously through the use of data links, computer-assisted intelligence and automated fire control. … I am confident the American people expect this country to take full advantage of its technology–to welcome and applaud the developments that will replace wherever possible the man with the machine.” Is this vision from the 1970s being realized today?
The basic strategies and thought processes are the same but the methods of Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz or WW2 are long gone as the modern battlefields evolve. There are still tactics such as the use of decoys, deception and the element of surprise, but today the remote-controlled Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs), high-tech guidance and targeting systems, mobile missile launchers and anti-aircraft systems are some of the most sophisticated technologies on the planet.
Reflecting the modern realities, the US military is targeting its recruiting efforts on a generation of Americans that has grown up with computer-based video games. The recently opened Army Experience Center in Philadelphia is a fitting counterpart to the retail experience: 14,500 square feet of mostly shoot-’em-up video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles. For those who want to take the experience deeper, the center has 22 recruiters, according to a report in the New York Times.
On a practical level, thousands of miles away from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, American remote pilots in Nevada fly armed drones and target the perceived enemy with deadly force. In front of the remote human pilots is a live video from the Predator's camera, thousands of feet above ground. Buildings and trucks come into view. They zoom in and out, put the cross-hairs on the targets and fire missiles with ease, killing dozens on the ground.
Beyond Nevada,at Djibouti's Camp Le Monier, CIA agents and special forces troops - about 1500 personnel in all - have opened a wide-ranging but little-reported front in President George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror".
This high-tech, not-so-covert battle is part of a broader US effort against suspected terrorists. It surfaces frequently, with news of air strikes on suspected Taliban forces in Afghanistan or al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. Such warfare places heavy reliance on the accuracy and breadth of human intelligence on the ground. In Afghanistan, failure of such intelligence has often led to growing friendly fire incidents and increasing civilian casualties.
In addition to human intelligence on the ground, there is need for Electronic Warfare Support (ES). ES in military terms, is the passive detection of signals in order to detect and locate threats or target location, information necessary to conduct Electronic Attack (EA). By comparison, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) is the related process of analyzing and identifying the intercepted frequencies (e.g. as a cell phone or RADAR). SIGINT is a combination of ELINT, COMINT, and MASINT.
On the military strategy and planning front, wargames are a subgenre of strategy video games that emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map. Computer wargames are generally classified based on whether a game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon military strategy or tactics. These distinctions divide computer wargames into four categories: real-time strategy, real-time tactics, turn-based strategy, and turn-based tactics. Wargaming is an essential part of any high-tech military campaign.
Given the nature of the broad shift to high-tech warfare in the battlefields of the world, it is understandable that Pakistan's military is beginning to take it seriously. All three Pakistani military branches have sought to build UAV capabilities. The Army has considerably increased its UAV inventory; the Air Force has formed two UAV squadrons (with the intention of fielding up to six); and the Navy tested the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 rotary UAV from a frigate in March, Defense News reports. Karachi-based Integrated Dynamics, the designer and manufacturer of drones for Pakistan Army and Air Force, actually exports its Border Eagle surveillance drone to the United States for border patrol duties. The company also makes drones for the turbojet-powered Tornado decoy, which can fly up to 200 kilometers, and emit false radar signals to confuse enemy air defenses into thinking they are attacking aircraft.
Pakistan's traditional rival India is pursuing relationships with Israel and UK to acquire UAVs. All of India's current UAV needs are met by Israel, and this partnership will ensure that will continue to be the case for at least the near future.
Media reports from Pakistan often portray a picture of doom and gloom, with the IMF bailout of the economy, terrorist training camps, Islamic radicals, horrible governance, and corrupt and inept politicians making the headlines around the world. The adjective of "failed state" is often used to describe Pakistan. Is there more to the story than the big headlines? Is there hope for Pakistanis amidst the doom and gloom? On Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah's 132nd birthday today, I think there is. The telecommunication, information technology, higher education, media and the middle class progress started during Musharraf-Aziz years continues to have its impact on the country founded by the Quaid-e-Azam more the 61 years ago. Here are a few things I found posted by a fellow blogger on Tech Lahore blog: 1. Pakistan is the most connected country in South Asia, with the highest teledensity. The Internet penetration in Pakistan is at 10% versus 5% in India, according to ITU. 2. Pakistan’s communications costs are lower than any other country in the region. 3. Pakistan has the world’s largest biometric database (NADRA); this system (not the data) is now being provided to allied countries. 4. Pakistan has the world’s largest WiMAX network. 5. Pakistan has one of the world’s most aggressive Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) rollouts. 6. Pakistan has one of the highest rates of cellular connectivity growth in the world (According to PTA 2007’s report the rate of growth in Pakistan’s mobile sector is fourth highest in the world). 7. Pakistan was the winner of the 2007 GSM industry association award. 8. The US is importing UAVs designed and built in Pakistan to protect America’s borders. 9. With WLL (CDMA), WiMAX, GSM and FTTH, Pakistan is pretty much leading the pack in terms of diversity and breadth of connectivity. 10. According to Gartner, Pakistan is a “first category” offshoring location; this ranking has grown by leaps and bounds. 11. Pakistani companies won several awards at Asia’s APICTA startup/innovation conference and were considered the most “interesting” and cutting edge in Asia. 12. The world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional is a Pakistani and so is the world’s youngest Cisco CCNA professional. 13. Pakistani students excelled in MIT’s global software talent competition. 14. Citations of Pakistani scientific publications are rising sharply. 15. Over two dozen Pakistani scientists are working on the Large Hadron Collider; the grandest experiment in the history of Physics. 16. In 2007, analysts at Standard Chartered bank estimated that Pakistan has a middle class of 30 million which earns an average of about $10,000 per year. And adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), Pakistan's per capita GDP is approaching $3,000 per head.
The Wall Street Journal did a story in September 2007 on Pakistan's start-up boom that said, "Scores of new businesses once unseen in Pakistan, from fitness studios to chic coffee shops to hair-transplant centers, are springing up in the wake of a dramatic economic expansion. As a result, new wealth and unprecedented consumer choice have become part of Pakistan's volatile social mix."
In the absence of any visionary and pro-active political leadership in the nation, Pakistan will likely continue to be heavily influenced by external factors and events in the foreseeable future. The change in Washington and potential change in Delhi in 2009 will likely have a far greater impact on Pakistan than anything Pakistani leaders say or do.
I am hopeful that people of Pakistan, especially the young entrepreneurial and the professional classes, will continue to do their best to help extend the positive legacies of Musharraf-Aziz years. I believe it can be safely said that the communications revolution (accompanied by dramatic growth in urbanization and the vociferous electronic and new media) as well as a significant enlargement of the middle class in Pakistan helped sow the seeds of the end of arbitrary actions by President Musharraf. In other words, Musharraf pulled a Gorbachev (a la perestroika that unleashed uncontrolled energies) by enabling powerful resistance to his arbitrary rule. Some of these changes that Musharraf brought are durable and I hope will make our rulers more accountable. There will still be abuse of power but the media spotlight will hopefully shine brightly on it to the detriment of the abusers. Eventually there will be real participatory democracy to serve all Pakistanis with appropriate checks and balances imposed by a much larger and more powerful and aware middle class essential for true democratic governance in Pakistan, or anywhere else.
Here's a video titled "I Am Pakistan":
Here are two video clips of Pakistan's progress in the last few years:
Will President-elect Barack Obama be allowed to keep his favorite Blackberry when he takes office on January 20, 2009? This question is being raised in Washington by those who see a conflict between the US law and the use of technology by a US president. The need to answer such a question did not arise because all of the US presidents to date have not been tech savvy. It is alleged that George W. Bush did have an email account prior to becoming president but he gave it up at the insistence of secret service. Pointing out the dangers of presidential isolation, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek puts it as follows: "Bush foolishly listened to the security people who made him give up his e-mail account in 2001. The result was that old friends suddenly found they had no way to get through to the president. More than a few watched in horror as he drove the country over the cliff."
Why the Conflict? Variously described as Barackberry or Crackberry, president-elect Obama is reportedly addicted to the smart phone he uses for keeping in touch with his friends, supporters and campaign staff and to surf the Internet. The US law, however, imposes several restrictions on the communications of the president of the United States. In addition to email security, there is the Presidential Records Act, which puts all presidential correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review. A laptop might be permissible in the Oval office but it is still uncertain.
Inauspicious Start If Mr. Obama does surrender his Blackberry, it will represent a rather inauspicious start for America's first "technology" president. Obama understands the difference that online networking technology made in raising record amount of $700m for his campaign, and energizing the young people to get involved as campaign organizers, workers and voters. He must continue to promote and use the online media to reach out to the American people and inspire them to bring real change in America. Obama campaign has talked about appointing a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to oversee US technology policy investments in the incoming Obama administration. The cabinet-level CTO’s mandate would be different from the lower level Cybersecurity czar appointed under the Bush Administration. Bush’s czar helped defend against cyber threats. Obama’s CTO, by contrast, would ensure government officials hold open meetings, broadcast live webcasts of those meetings, arrange President Obama's fireside chats online, and use blogging software, wikis and open comments to communicate policies with Americans, according to the plan. Such broad use of online media by the US government will benefit Silicon Valley high-tech businesses and encourage the use of technology by state and local governments in the US and other parts of the world.
Outreach via Technology The use of technology will keep a lot of young people, who were energized by Obama, engaged in discussion and help solve major national issues. "Obama understood the intersection of demographics and technology and promised engagement and interaction," Don Tapscott, best-selling author and researcher, said in an interview recently. "But if he now says to young people, 'Thanks, now go passive for four years until my re-election,' there will be outrage. It will make the reaction of the 1960s generation look like kid stuff." The technology exists for Mr. Obama to improve government transparency and pursue the online relationships with his under-thirty supporters. However, Mr. Obama will have to make sure that people he surrounds himself with in the White House can take advantage of it and the laws are suitably amended to make the White House technology friendly.
Obama's Change Agenda If Obama does manage to use the modern online technology and social media applications to maintain close contact with supporters just as he did during his highly effective campaign, he can potentially go over the heads of the established legacy media, the powerful Washington lobbyists and the obstructionist US Congressmen to energize and sustain support for his ambitious agenda of change.
Here is a video clip of Obama's speech on technology at Googleplex in Mountain View, CA:
Technology will likely get significant attention by President-elect Barack H. Obama, in spite of the more urgent issues of two wars, a sputtering economy and ballooning US national debt. While there will be the usual rush by various special interest groups in the high tech world to try and influence US technology policy to favor their particular sectors or products, it is important for the new administration to see each technology in the broader context of national challenges such as government transparency, climate change, energy independence, delivering cost-effective healthcare broadly, improving education, encouraging innovation and overcoming major national economic challenges.
Obama understands the difference that online networking technology made in raising record amount of $700m for his campaign, and energizing the young people to get involved as campaign organizers, workers and voters. It can be expected that Obama will continue to promote and use the online media to reach out to the American people and inspire them to bring real change in America. Obama campaign has talked about appointing a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to oversee US technology policy investments in the incoming Obama administration. The CTO’s mandate would be different from the Cybersecurity czar appointed under the Bush Administration. Bush’s czar helped defend against cyber threats. Obama’s CTO, by contrast, would ensure government officials hold open meetings, broadcast live webcasts of those meetings, and use blogging software, wikis and open comments to communicate policies with Americans, according to the plan. Such broad use of online media by the US government will benefit Silicon Valley high-tech businesses and encourage the use of technology by state and local governments in the US and other parts of the world. It'll also keep a lot of young people, who were energized by Obama, engaged in discussion and help solve major national issues. "Obama understood the intersection of demographics and technology and promised engagement and interaction," Don Tapscott, best-selling author and researcher, said in an interview recently. "But if he now says to young people, 'Thanks, now go passive for four years until my re-election,' there will be outrage. It will make the reaction of the 1960s generation look like kid stuff." The technology exists for Mr. Obama to improve government transparency and pursue the online relationships with his under-thirty supporters. However, Mr. Obama will have to make sure that people he surrounds himself with in the White House can take advantage of it.
Matt Marshall of Venture Beat has published details of Obama’s new technology policy and plans, which cover everything from providing new subsidies for internet broadband access to increased permanent visas for immigrants needed by the high-tech industry.
The president-elect has often talked about energy policy and dealing with its impact on climate change as a priority. He wants to create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Transformation in the way people and businesses use technology could reduce annual man-made global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020 and deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of over $ 800 billion, according to a new report published by independent non-profit The Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). The choice of the CTO by Obama must reflect this priority. In addition to the CTO, the Obama administration should seriously consider appointing Nobel laureate Al Gore as a high-profile and high-powered ambassador to inspire and lead a global green revolution.
During his campaign, Obama has displayed protectionist tendencies in response to the middle class concerns for well-paying jobs being moved to countries such as India. In his speech to the Democratic National Convention, Obama pledged to halt tax sops to companies that ship jobs overseas. If Obama sticks to this promise, it will mean trouble ahead for India's IT industry. India's software and services exports stood at about $40 billion during the financial year 2008, a growth of 29%, with US as its largest market. Can Obama really curb outsourcing? It seems unlikely.
As the emerging economies in Brazil, Russia, India, China and the rest of the world try and emulate the US pattern of production and consumption, it is clear that this development model will not be sustainable for long. What is needed is a fundamental change in how we produce, market, distribute and consume various products and services. An accelerated change away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is absolutely urgent. Such a fundamental change in architecture of our industrialized society will require a significant focus and commitment of human intellectual capital by the US.
Changing the economic incentives and transforming the industrial architecture will not be easy. The powerful lobbies of auto, steel, industrial equipment, farmers, financial services and information technology industries will likely resist any major changes that affect how they do business. Each of them will use their power and influence in Washington to get a larger share of funds in terms of tax credits or corporate welfare for themselves, at the expense of dealing with the larger national challenges. If Obama can inspire and lead such an effort to change how people produce, consume and live, the rewards are potentially very large in terms of creating millions of new jobs, enabling a healthier environment, persuading and supporting the emerging economies to limit carbon emissions, and saving the earth and the human race from total destruction.
Here is a Nov 2007 video clip of Obama's speech on technology at Googleplex in Mountain View, CA:
Here's another November 2007 video clip of Obama talking about technology, Pakistan, Middle East, Africa, war and peace and other matters:
