Technology stimulus plans: Paved with good intentions

Is “broadband for all” a recipe for recovery, or a boondoggle? BEGGING for government help would have made you a pariah in most parts of the high-tech industry a few months ago. But these days state aid, and how to dole it out, are nearly as hotly debated in online hangouts as cloud computing or Steve Jobs’s health. To understand the change of heart, just follow the money: the industry stands to do quite well from Barack Obama’s $819 billion economic stimulus package. If America’s new president has his way, a total of $37 billion will be spent on the digitisation of health records ($20 billion), a smarter power grid ($11 billion) and high-speed internet connections ($6 billion). It is not just America that is betting on technology to help revive its economy. Though exact numbers remain to be determined, stimulus packages in other rich countries are likely to include large doses of technology spending, says Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, an economist at the OECD who has analysed ... (link)