White House/VA Conference
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“Our departmental efforts in support of the New Freedom Initiative really boil down to two main thrusts: Speeding the transfer of new technologies for individuals with disabilities, and also boosting U.S. exports. We are the Department of Commerce, after all.” — Phillip J. Bond |
Secretary Principi, Secretary Mineta, Dr. Marburger, Assistant Secretary Brailer, friends, it is good to be with you and a real privilege for me this morning to be representing Secretary Don Evans, my boss, who has a deep and abiding personal interest in this subject. On his behalf, let me welcome you to the start of this conference. In February 2001, the President launched the New Freedom Initiative. Close on the heels of the announcement, we began to work on that initiative from the Department of Commerce standpoint, trying to do our part to bring this promise into reality for so many Americans, to support the development of assistive technologies, and to promote the expansion of the U.S. assistive technology industry. In fact, in 2001, we launched an effort to survey the emerging industry of assistive technology. We completed a two-year survey, culminating last February in the announcement of an eight-point initiative by Secretary Evans to work on assistive technologies. We’re now busy implementing all eight points of that initiative. |
 Phillip J. Bond was sworn in as Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology on October 30, 2001. His primary responsibilities are to supervise policy development and direction among the Office of Technology Policy (OTP), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). His experience in the private sector includes serving as Director of Federal Public Policy for the Hewlett-Packard Company, a position he held immediately before joining Commerce, and serving as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Treasurer of the Information Technology Industry Council. He is a graduate of Linfield College in Oregon. |
Our departmental efforts in support of the New Freedom Initiative really boil down to two main thrusts: speeding the transfer of new technologies for individuals with disabilities, and also boosting U.S. exports. We are the Department of Commerce, after all. The fundamental reason is that not only do jobs come from new assistive technologies for use both here and abroad—jobs for folks with disabilities and those without—but that with more sales comes more R&D, which leads to new innovations, new products, and new advances. Promoting exports becomes a way to promote the new technology. In fact, my job description as undersecretary basically is to try to encourage technology for the benefit of the U.S. economy and its citizens. This past July, for the second year in a row, we hosted, along with our friend Troy [Justesen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Research) and his office at the Department of Education, a policy forum and exhibition to commemorate passage and enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our theme was “Technology for All Americans,” and I see a number of familiar faces here from those conferences. The aim was to talk about and look at technologies that would help Americans fulfill their dreams, because technology is really best when it moves beyond the merely cool gadget or gizmo and really empowers and enables people to fulfill their potential. As we promote assistive technology development, we want to make sure these new technologies work for all segments of American society. And so at our conference we had more than 40 exhibits by leading companies, government agencies, and associations that serve the disabled community. We had a full day with terrific exhibits. We highlighted some of the advances. We discussed barriers to making more technology available and accessible. We explored further, deeper cooperation among those in the community, in industry, and in government. Today and tomorrow, thanks to Secretary Principi’s leadership and that of Dr. Marburger, we hope that those themes will be fleshed out more completely. We hope you’ll produce some substantive suggestions that all of us on the government side can look at. For instance, on R&D, what can we do with the advanced robotics and materials Dr. Marburger talked about? What can we do with the affordable bandwidth that the President wants to see available to all Americans by 2007? What can we do in the workforce and in education as we open up whole new vistas to educate those with cognitive or learning disabilities with new technologies? What can we do in technology delivery, moving it out of the lab and into the marketplace? What can we do in transportation as Secretary Mineta talked about? All of these can have such a dramatic impact. I think all of these questions, and your work in the next two days, serves to underscore another critical point: how unique the assistive technology community is. All too often in the past, assistive technology has fallen through the cracks between medical devices and information technology, instead of bringing the two fields together for the benefit of, and cooperation with, the community, so that we can figure out how to deploy it and use it best. This can no longer be. Assistive technology is simply too important to our nation to allow it to continue to fall through the cracks. First, let’s fully recognize the unique character of it, the importance of it to our economic growth and productivity, and that a large segment of our society can contribute more and wants to contribute more. Certainly, the President sees and understands this. It is what motivated him to move on the New Freedom Initiative so quickly after coming into office, recognizing that the development and distribution of new assistive technologies is critical to our economic security, to our society, and even to our national security—in short, assistive technologies are a real national priority. We’re committed in this administration to making sure that no child is left behind as they look forward to being a part of the strong current of American society. We also want to look forward to working with all of you to deepen and expand what we already have done, to reach out and engage more with industry—we’ve talked about that a little bit—and also to promote awareness across the culture. I think it’s probably true today that nearly every American family has been touched by someone who’s disabled in their extended family. We need to promote that awareness across the culture, and then continue to work for those untapped markets, as I said, because not only does it enhance economic security but it promotes innovation. Commerce will be trying to do our part in building out the initiative using our foreign commercial service to help U.S. commercial companies sell assistive technologies around the world. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we’ll be looking to unlock new technologies that can create new instrumentation and new standards that can lower cost and make assistive technologies more accessible—in short, an America in which we really, truly have opportunity for all. We can look forward to a day when we have not only no child left behind, but no citizen left behind. Congratulations, and we look forward to working with you. |
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