ITI Provides SOTU Speech Advice to Trump

Tech industry group the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) has outlined the five things the tech industry wants to hear from President Trump in tonight's (Feb. 4) State of the Union address. 

ITI president Jason Oxman said that to keep the state of the Union one that foster's innovation and insures U.S. leadership in tech, the President's address needs to address: 

1. Trade truce 

ITI praises the "phase one" deal with China, but said the President must make it clear he is working on a long-term deal rolling back remaining tariffs.

2. Federal privacy legislation 

ITI wants a national privacy law out of Congress and says the President should urge that as well.

3. U.S. transportation and infrastructure  

Integrating smart technology with traditional infrastructure is key, said Oxman. The President should reiterate his pledge to helping cities leverage smart technology.

4. STEM workforce  

The Trump Administration has taken important steps, but more needs to be done to close the "skills gap." ITI said the President should remind the public that that is a collaborative effort, and also propose immigration policies that allow high tech smarts into the country to study and then tap that expertise for U.S. innovation.

5. Spectrum, 5G networks, and broadband expansion 

ITI cited the President's Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence and said he should talk about building on that commitment to create and deploy new tech, particularly focused on making more spectrum available for 5G. "More can be done to free unused spectrum," said Oxman.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.