IBM’s chief executive, Samuel Palmisano, is proposing a technology-fueled economic recovery plan for the United States that calls for public and private investment in more efficient systems for utility grids, traffic management, food distribution, water conservation and health care.
Recent technology advances make this possible, and the need is apparent, Palmisano said in a speech he delivered Thursday to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Sixty-seven percent of electrical energy, for example, is lost because of inefficient power generation and grid management. Congested highways cost $78 billion a year in squandered working hours and wasted gasoline.
Palmisano never mentioned IBM in his speech, but his proposal has a self-serving side. IBM is increasingly playing the role of lead contractor in these so-called smart infrastructure projects around the world, from a traffic management network in Stockholm to electric grids in Texas.
Some economists and policy experts say similar projects are a good way to improve the long-term health of the economy, potentially providing a foundation for innovation and growth across a range of industries.
Applying more computing intelligence to help transform fields like transportation, energy and health care will be “critical to solving an array of pressing public problems,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan research group.
“The countries that take the lead in this area will be the nations that enact the best public-private partnerships,” said Atkinson, who has seen the text of the speech.
Palmisano compared today’s economic challenge, in broad strokes, with that faced by the United States as it struggled to emerge from the Depression or after World War II. In the 1930s, he said during an interview, the New Deal programs, among other things, brought electrical service to much of country — not only to rural homes, but also to factories, which…