May 22, 2008

Last week, 463 Communications' Sean Garrett wrote about a tech policy "leadership gap" in Silicon Valley. He pointed out what others, including us, agree is a need for more involvement by up-and-coming tech execs and innovators. It's an issue that has been top of mind for us since we founded the Tech Policy Summit conference in early 2006, and it's a challenge that we're actively working on today.

In fact, we'll be announcing a new project later this summer that is designed to help bring more upstart Silicon Valley entrepreneurs into the fold. After all, why should the big players like Microsoft, IBM, Google and Intel have all of the fun?

I believe there's another missing ingredient though, and a series of recent occurrences reminds me just how critical it is: Collaboration, with a capital C.

It's no accident that Tech Policy Summit's tagline is Collaborating to Drive Technology Innovation and Adoption. From the outset, our goal has been to create an open forum where key stakeholders from the various 'us vs. them' camps can come together on neutral ground to share their perspectives and to find new ways to work together. We launched TechPolicyCentral.com last October to extend that vision to the Internet, and hopefully to more people.

Of course, we know better than to harbor Pollyannish beliefs that a single conference or Web site is enough to bridge the chasms that still divide D.C. and Silicon Valley, or Hollywood and just about everyone else. The cold, hard truth is that there are different interests with different goals that don't always align.

But what about the dozens of tech policy-related organizations vying for the attention of techies and politicos that do share similar goals? Our experience has been that some (not all) would rather go it alone -- even if that means reaching fewer people or having less of an impact.

Wouldn't it be more effective for advocacy work in D.C., and less confusing to individuals on the sidelines in Silicon Valley, if those who carry the mantle of advancing tech policy figured out how to work with each other instead of competing with one another? To be clear, there are some organizations that get this and are 110% committed to collaborating in order to effect change.

It is the others that I find baffling.

Tags: Tech Policy Summit