Three months after I was born, my father watched American astronauts Buzz Aldren and Neil Armstrong pilot the world's most advanced technology, bringing the lunar excursion module to a perfect landing at Tranquility Base on the moon. Three days after my own daughter was born last October, we drove her home in a Ford Taurus. With more than 120 computer chips, the 1999 Taurus had greater processing power than the 1969 lunar module.

Yesterday's supercomputer is today's Christmas present. The pace of change over the past 30 years has been truly astounding, especially in the area of information and communication technologies. Thirty years ago no one had a fax machine, there were no cell phones, email did not exist, and PDAs were the size of a car. Today over 655 million worldwide Internet users (UN) send 31 billion emails each day (IDC). There are an estimated 1 billion cellular telephone users (Nokia), and unlicensed WiFi data networks are proliferating at over 300% per year (WSJ).

And we ain't seen nothing yet. From genomics to quantum computing, from pervasive networks to proteomics, there will be more change in the next 30 years than we saw in the entire 20th century. This will be especially true as technologies converge, changes come faster and disruptions cut deeper. Emerging technologies promise even greater economic impact and disruption. For example, leading experts gathered by the National Science Foundation predict nanotechnology will be at least as significant as antibiotics, the integrated circuit and man-made polymers were in the 20th century. Raised amidst pervasive, multi-gigabit wireless networks, the high school class of 2030 will be a truly digital generation, more empowered - and more challenged - than any who have come before.

Information and communications technologies are changing everything, transforming organizations and redefining the skills and talents needed to succeed in the 21st century. At the individual level, the ability to understand and make use of ICT - digital literacy - is proving essential to employment success, civic participation, accessing entertainment, and education - it is truly revolutionizing how we work, live, play and learn. Eight of the top 10 fastest growing occupations require computer skills (Bureau of Labor Statistics), with high tech jobs paying - on average - almost twice as much as non high-tech jobs (ESA).

Likewise, information and communications technologies are remaking the business landscape. Companies that are intelligently integrating IT into manufacturing, supply chains, customer relations management, sales force training and administrative functions are saving billions of dollars and gaining competitive advantage. The increased productivity wrought by the digital revolution explains, in large part, how we have been able to continue growing American productivity despite the 2001 recession. In fact next Monday and Tuesday we are hosting an international conference on the economic and social implications of information technology transforming enterprises. and space remains for those who wish to attend.

Digital literacy will define winners and losers among societies as well. Just look at the economic success of Finland, Singapore and Taiwan relative to so many bigger, more populous countries. Around the world, digital technologies are combating corruption, promoting democracy and expanding opportunity for those who have them and know how to use them. Ladies and gentlemen, the wealth of nations is changing. While the 19th and 20th centuries rewarded abundant material resources and a broad manufacturing base, in this age of innovation, knowledge - ideas and the people who generate them - is the new coin of the realm. Innovative capacity is now the key driver of future economic growth, productivity gains and wealth creation. And ICT-literate citizens and workers are central to building and maintaining national innovative capacity and competitiveness.

To keep pace with change in such a dynamic environment, and to maintain American leadership and competitiveness, the Bush Administration is pursuing a high tech agenda that optimizes the environment for the creation and commercialization of technology. Specifically, our policies promote innovation, support entrepreneurship, improve infrastructure and empower people.

• To promote innovation we have made unprecedented investments in research and development, doubling the budget for NIH and authorizing a similar doubling for NSF. We are working hard to protect intellectual property around the world to maintain the incentives that are so critical to the creative process of bringing ideas from concept to commerce. And we have proposed a new $1 billion program to significantly increase the quality of math and science teaching in U.S. schools

• To support entrepreneurship we're enacting tax, trade and regulatory policies that encourage capital formation, expand market access and regain investor confidence

• To improve our innovation infrastructure, this Administration is engaging in the largest government reorganization in 50 years to provide for homeland defense. We have proposed a national energy plan that looks to technology to improve our energy efficiency and reduce dependence on foreign oil. We continue to promote more efficient spectrum management, and we're supporting broadband deployment and usage through research, procurement, government content, tax policy, cybersecurity and FCC proceedings, to name a few.

• Last, to empower citizens the President is leading landmark education reform, making e-government a top management priority, and acting to ensure all government web sites are accessible to those with disabilities. Indeed, the President demonstrated his commitment to digital literacy in the No Child Left Behind Act, requiring that every student be technologically-literate by the 8th grade so we train tomorrow's workforce for tomorrow's challenges.

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Thirty years from now we won't be having summits on "ICT literacy." Perhaps genomic literacy or nanotech literacy, but ICT understanding and facility will be assumed in the concept of literacy itself. Businesses that didn't "get it" will be long gone, and nations that failed to produce their own digital generations will have learned the hard way why all roads no longer lead to Rome and the sun now sets on the British Empire.

I'd like to conclude by offering three principles to guide our efforts going forward. First, we must recognize that technologies only benefit society when we use them wisely. Technology can enable us to improve our lives and make the world a safer, more abundant, and more equitable place. Or it can exacerbate problems. For example, encryption technologies that protect our privacy also conceal terrorist communications. The Internet lets children in Alaska visit the Smithsonian or take virtual courses at MIT, but it also gives them access to pornography, hate speech and instructions on building a pipe bomb. Digital literacy will never substitute for good parenting and effective teaching, and any effort to define and promote digital literacy must reinforce their unique and vital roles.

Second, we must remember that digital literacy is more than having Internet access and broader than technical proficiency. It's also about learning digital rights and wrongs. Respecting intellectual property rights, practicing security as second nature, and valuing others' privacy are all going to be critical to a functionally literate information society.

Last, we need to all remember the power of Metcalf's law. This principle states that the value of a network increases exponentially as more people connect. While there is zero value having the only telephone on Earth - after all there's no one to call - going from 100 to 1000 users increases the value of the network by more than a factor of 10. As we look to apply digital technologies to the challenges of the 21st century, we must join together with leaders around the world, so the rising tide of innovation can lift all boats. We will all be better off - as businesses, as nations and as citizens of the world - when 6 billion people are online, instead of the 655 million who have logged on so far.

Once again I appreciate your having me here and I congratulate all of you for your commitment and efforts to improve our nation and our world. Thank you.

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Date created: January 24, 2003