I'm at the 2008 Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, expecting the big production values, lots of hoopla and, of course, lots of pro-Intel rah-rah speechifying during the opening remarks from Intel's Chairman of the Board, Craig Barrett.
That wasn't what happened. In fact, it was a collection of interesting observations about the world and about how technology (and yes, some of it from Intel) can change how the world works.
The U.S. is falling behind the rest of the globe--especially the emerging markets. That is the main point Barrett drove home for about an hour this morning. A decidedly political comment in an historical election year. But maybe he's onto something.
Barrett says, "You need smart people (education), smart ideas (R&D), and you need the right collaborative environment" in order for us to succeed as a people.
"If I could only put one piece of technology in the classroom, it'd be better teachers," Barrett said. He goes on, pointing to the U.S.'s place in world education rankings. "That's because we don't have enough good, certified teachers in the math and sciences," he added.
Brian McCarthy, the MIT-bound third-place winner of the Intel Science Talent Search, might slightly disagree. He was mentored by many since about the 8th grade. One teacher got him an internship at Portland State.
His observation about the state of education was this--and I'm paraphrasing here because I completely agree with him: You read in the news about how our math and science scores are lower. Tests aren't the answer. Stop sweating scores and give students more hands-on experiences to get them excited. (In case you're curious, his project was looking at building economical solar cells with plastics.)
Dr. Johnny Chung Lee, an expert in computer-human interface also came to the stage. You may remember him from countless YouTube videos as the Wiihacker that created a whiteboard for about $50.
Using the IR camera in the front of the WiiMote in conjunction with a whiteboard (and some electronic components from RadioShack), Dr. Lee can create multitouch points on a whiteboard. According to Dr. Lee, since he's shared his hacks online, he says that he's not only received praise, but e-mails from teachers implementing this in classrooms.
And, yes, in case you're curious, Barrett did give a shout out to Intel's efforts pushing low-cost PCs into classrooms--you know, the whole Classmate PC movement, which is now blossoming into a whole wave of low-cost mini-notebooks.
Barrett took more shots at another policy: The lapse of R&D tax credits. We're basically de-incentivizing risk-takers and people with new, big ideas. He says that it is a huge mistake to cut this. Not only did he point to emerging nations that foster such growth, Barrett also discussed a new microloan Web site that is funding low-income innovators from them.
Kiva.org is one such site. The general idea is that instead of donating to a charity, you're providing loans to low-income entrepreneurs in third-world nations. (Right after the announcement, I jumped online, and I'm currently thinking of becoming a micro-VC overseas. Seriously.)
Another hot-button issue for Barrett is rising health care costs. How do you combat it? Telemedicine and, according to him, IT can change how health care is delivered. We need to bring the PC to the health care system.
He stopped mid-stream in the talk and posed a question to the crowd: "What piece of electronic equipment invented over 100 years ago can a doctor still not get reimbursed for? A telephone. Start there, then maybe we can get to the Internet one day."
One company already looking to bridge that gap is Groove Media and Technologies. The Columbian-based company demonstrated a new kind of health smart card that it is developing.
The card provides a user's medical information hidden as a special scanner code. Just take a photo with a cell phone camera, and it provides all the basic information you'd need to know in an emergency. Also, a button on it sends an alert to your physician anywhere worldwide.
Which provided a nice segue to him contacting "his doctors" in India. I wonder if Barrett includes intercontinental flight time into his wait time at the doctor's office. Speaking with doctors overseas, Barrett discussed how telephones are a necessity for them to deal with patients in overcrowded Indian cities.
In the way that we dial '911' here, there one can dial '104' for one level of emergencies and '108' for more critical care. Of course, that whole conversation was transmitted via WiMax--for the last few miles in India, at least. (Ding! score one more Intel plug for those playing at home!)
Winding down, Barrett dropped a saying ("A small deed done, is better than a great deed, planned.") and a challenge to the room: "We have the opportunity to perform many small deeds...and we are offering four $100,000 awards at Spring IDF." Awards will go to the best ideas in four different categories--health care, economic development, education, and the environment. The award money goes toward enacting the idea.
So much for the typical "rah-rah, Intel rules" speech.
