Venture capitalist Geoffrey Moore has no doubts about what puts the U.S. ahead of so many other lands. “The crown jewel in our economy,” says Moore, author of management and innovation-themed books such as Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Stage of Their Evolution, “is our ability to lead innovation.”
It’s a comforting image. But it also seems a touch out of date. Retail sales dropped 2.7 percent in the U.S. in December. The unemployment rate stands at 7.2 percent, with 3.6 million people tossed out of work in the past year. Home foreclosures jumped 81 percent in 2008. Clearly, President Barack Obama and his team have their work cut out to help the U.S. regain its glory.
That’s why Moore, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, and other Silicon Valley veterans, such as Genius.com Chief Executive David Thompson and Kevin Efrusy of Accel Partners, are pushing for an IT innovation tax credit. Their open letter, dated Jan. 7, was sent to then President-elect Barack Obama, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and other Washington pols. This temporary break — proposed for two years initially, with an option to extend it for four more years should an economic recovery prove elusive — would reward companies that invest in IT. Any business spending at least 80 percent of its 2008 annual IT budget would qualify for the 25 percent credit, providing an incentive for executives to keep buying both hardware and software.
“People talk about infrastructure, but then they build a bridge to nowhere,” says Thompson, who had been chief marketing officer at Web-conferencing outfit WebEx before founding Genius.com, a B-to-B marketing site, in 2005. “Too often people don’t take the next step to assess how [that infrastructure] actually helps you innovate, become more productive, and actually generate more revenue and…
Source: newsfactor.com
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