Hi-Tech CEOs Urge Immigration Reform

Stephen Lawson reports in PC World:

The U.S. government should give emerging companies a break on regulation and change its immigration laws to encourage well-educated newcomers to stay, panelists said at a conference Thursday.

The annual TechNet Innovation Summit in Berkeley, California, kicked off with a discussion of U.S. innovation policy that quickly focused in on how the country can remain competitive as developing countries generate more engineers and ideas. The panelists were not just corporate bystanders: Laura Tyson, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, was chairman of former President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. Sybase Inc. executive John Chen and Cisco Systems Inc. chief John Chambers both have served on advisory panels in the Bush administration, and Chambers is a top advisor and leader in Senator John McCain’s Republican presidential campaign.

While the U.S. still leads in innovation, it has about five years to tune up its engine before emerging countries such as China and India catch up, said Chen, who is chairman, CEO and president of Sybase. Click herefor the full story.

bh