What Uncle Sam wants from Silicon Valley

The CTO of the United States is looking for healthcare, smartgrid, and education technologies.

On Tuesday night, Chief Technology Officer of the United States Aneesh Chopra told a group of Silicon Valley thought leaders how the federal government plans to work with the high-growth technology sector.

The CTO said his top priority is to invest in the building blocks of innovation--primarily by ensuring we have smart, secure infrastructure, focusing the national $150 billion research and development budget towards commercialization, and making sure that we have a 21st-century workforce.

Chopra said his second priority was to harness technology to achieve the president’s agenda, focusing on healthcare solutions, energy independence (especially the smart grid), upgrading the education system, and the accomplishing President Obama’s open government initiative, which means bringing “transparency, participatory democracy and collaboration into the DNA of government operations.”

Of particular interest to tech startups and VCs, the federal CTO said his plan would focus on establishing a collaborative support of standards, especially in healthcare and energy, and reassessing how Uncle Sam spends its $75 billion IT budget. “How do we leverage our buying power to promote innovation rather than stifle it?” I’m betting a lot enterprise startups from the valley might have some ideas.