As I shared last week in the first of this 2-part series, the real work for President Donald John Trump as the 45th president of the United States now begins. So far he has made some swift, bold and decisive staffing decisions that confirm he is a hiring executive who knows how to recruit the right talent (e.g. recently recruiting Sen. Jeff Sessions for the Attorney General and Rep Mike Pompeo for the director of the Central Intelligence Agency job vacancies). Now he needs to focus on technical development and jobs to make our country great again.
To that end, President Trump, I would like to share my expertise as an R&D (Research and Development), scientific, technical, engineering, IT (Information Technology) and manufacturing recruiter to augment your recruiting decisions and help our country significantly increase jobs and technology. During this final installment, I will focus on two steps that will help you accelerate U.S. technical innovation and jobs creation.
Technology Long The Live Blood Of Our Country
Our country has historically invested in major, basic research, technology projects. These have created many commercial triumphs and industries. For example, the Apollo moon project, launched by President Kennedy, led to the creation of the microchip or integrated circuit (IC). IC technology was needed for the information technology (IT) essential for the moon mission. None existed so necessity was the mother of invention.
Created from this microchip basic research was an entire IC industry. In the 1980’s this catapulted the U.S. to world prominence. Companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Texas Instruments grew exponentially, creating many jobs and recruiting countless workers including engineers, scientists and technology professionals to grow their companies.
Artificial Intelligence Is The New IC Revolution!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new technical frontier. Like microchips in the 1980’s it has the potential to catapult our country into world prominence again. As I shared in a recent TV interview, AI and related areas like robotics and IoT (Internet of Things) are already creating many new jobs and technology breakthroughs.
Unfortunately, we are already loosing the AI battle. Singapore, not the U.S., was the first to commercially launch a driverless car. Additionally, China is now considered the world’s leader in AI technology.
Two Things Needed For Technology Success
The past success of the microchip industry provides a historical blueprint on two important steps needed for technical triumph. Huge investments in both basic research and robust STEM education are a must for technology success.
Basic research projects like NASA’s Apollo are not profitable enough for private sector companies to undertake alone. Therefore, it is essential for government to get involved. Without the Apollo moon project, the microchip may not have been developed.
Second and equally important are strong STEM education programs. Guiding and cultivating young minds into becoming the engineering, scientific and technical talent of the future is also essential for technology success.
Unfortunately, Both Are In Need Of Overhaul!
Though the U.S. is still the world’s largest spender on research and development, others are catching up fast. For example, China has now become the 2nd largest worldwide spender on R&D. This will add to their already formable manufacturing strength.
Additionally, America’s schools are doing very poorly. For example, a recent study in Illinois showed that 23.5% of teachers have been absent more than 10 days during the school year. If teachers are not in school, they cannot educate our future engineers, scientists and technology professionals.
Furthermore, current U.S. STEM programs are woefully lacking. This leads to substandard scores for science, technology, engineering and math. Better teachers need to be recruited and stronger STEM training programs need to be created.
In Summary: Technical Breakthroughs Are The Key!
President Trump you need to focus on technology to make our country a leader again. This will create countless jobs and the innovation to catapult us to greatness again. Along those lines, you need to launch at least one major, basic research project like the Apollo moon program to focus U.S. technology efforts. Additionally, you need to vastly improve our school systems especially the STEM education programs in order to fuel technology efforts with more scientists, engineers and technical talent.
