Advancing IT into the 21st century

The progress of IT in the US is the direct result of federal investments. Advances in information technology will provide the basis for much of the world´s economic growth as we head into the next century (2000). During the past five years (1994-9), production in computers, semiconductors, and communications equipment quadrupled at a time when total industrial production grew by 28 percent. In the coming decades, the opportunities for innovation in IT are larger than they ever have been-and more important. If the past is any guide, the most important advances will come from unexpected directions, facilitated by advanced technical capabilities that result from fundamental research. Thus, federal investments in basic, high risk research for IT will be even more essential to ensuring the intellectual and technical underpinnings for these as yet unforeseeable developments