The technology industry is continuously innovating and evolving, though its relationship with the federal government still falters, inhibiting real change and development, according to Megan Smith, CTO of the U.S.
According to a Wired article, Ms. Smith said at the Building the Business of Civic Tech conference in New York City that there is a disconnect between Silicon Valley and the federal government in that Silicon Valley avoids the government because it tends to slow processes down while technology and innovators seek to speed development up. "It's the essence of Silicon Valley libertarianism: Why wait for the government to act, the thinking goes, when we can build nearly anything ourselves?" according to the report.
However, there is a slow shift in this mindset, Ms. Smith said in the report. For example, she herself left Silicon Valley where she was vice president of Google[X] for a position in the federal government. DJ Patil, the first U.S. chief data scientist, formerly was head of data products, chief scientist and chief security officer of LinkedIn.
Ms. Smith said as the government recruits more talent from Silicon Valley, it is also adopting practices found in Silicon Valley. As such, Ms. Smith made a call for more technology leaders to work in government agencies.
"We just have to show up so we can do the things we want to do," Ms. Smith said in the report.
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