Until now, more arrows have been fired between the US government and the tech industry than were used during the entire Peloponnesian War. But there are those working to ease the antagonism between the camps.
One group, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), will bring the factions together on Wednesday in the first meeting of their New Economy Task Force.
The point of the meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. EST at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, is to convene industry leaders and legislators in a spirit of cooperation and conciliation. That stands in marked contrast to the Cato Institute's conference beginning Thursday in San Jose, California, billed as "Washington, DC vs. Silicon Valley."
"The whole idea is to foster cooperation, not confrontation," said PPI's director, Rob Atkinson. "Instead of asking, 'Does Washington get it?' we want to build a strong dialogue between the two groups."
PPI's other agenda is to nurture growth of the digital or "new" economy.
"Not simply because it's new, but because we believe the new economy is crucial to increasing productivity and living standards" for all society, Atkinson said, "not just stockholders in Silicon Valley."
Atkinson and PPI colleague Randolph Court co-authored a report called The New Economy Index, which they will present at the conference.
Court cited some of their statistics as evidence of the country's inexorable shift to a digital economy.
"Employment in venture capital-backed companies increased 34 percent annually between 1991 and 1995, while employment in Fortune 500 companies declined 3.6 percent," Court pointed out. "And jobs requiring science or engineering expertise are forecast to increase three times faster than other occupations between 1994 and 2005."
The New Economy task force is co-chaired by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Gateway CEO Ted Waitt. The meetings' events will include an industry-government dialogue between FCC chairman William Kennard, and WebTV founder and president Steve Perlman.
There will also be a discussion of the "Coming Digital Economy Boom." Panel discussions are open to the public.
In spite of past grumblings between the government and the high-tech industry, Atkinson believes the two groups will learn to appreciate how beholden they are to each other.
"I always like to make this point: Where would the IT industry be without the Internet, and where would the Internet be without government R&D?"
