Ok, so the President-elect hasn’t quite made a decision of his Tech Czar BUT he has made a pledge that he would create the 1st ever Technology position within the White House. This alone is a great sign for technology and science companies, organizations and entrepreneurs. I have personal experience with this at the local level. When then Mayor (now Governor) Martin O’Malley appointed me his technology advocate for the City of Baltimore back in 2002. We were one of only a handful of cities who created that type of position and (although I’m biased) I’d like to think the position was effective and necessary to cut through red tape and give a direct link from City Hall to local technology stakeholders. In terms of new hires Obama has made an interesting transition-team tech choice in Julius Genachowski, a former executive of Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp who knows tech and has political experience. Genachowski, has been the chief counsel at the FCC and has worked closely with former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, who was recently speaking on behalf of the Obama campaign at a DC tech event. By having Genachowski involved early bodes well for tech stakeholders. 

Here’s a video of Obama’s recent highlights of his tech plan – this is edited down from a lengthy speech he gave earlier this year while at Google. 

Here’s a link to a pdf you can download to view his positions and ideas on technology. 

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/technology/Fact_Sheet_Innovation_and_Technology.pdf