Praveen Gupta, an innovation science educator at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), says that technology, innovation, and leadership can bridge the gap between job creation and economic development.
Gupta spoke at Chicago’s recent Technology Innovation Summit which drew entrepreneurs, educators, and state and county government leaders. The goal of the summit, founded in 2011 by Poonam Gupta-Krishnan, is to examine initiatives on how improving technology can spur economic growth and create jobs.
“This summit came about because of the challenges that several municipal technology managers have shared with me over the years,” said Gupta-Krishnan. “There are two major issues that government technologists and technocrats face today: 1) keeping pace with the fast-changing technology landscape; and 2) the government bureaucratic process itself.”
Other speakers included Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister of India; Toni Prekwinkle, Cook County Board President; Maria Thompson, Director of Innovation Strategy at Motorola Solutions Inc.; Dr. Jim Treleaven, Board Member, Illinois Technology Association; Robert Kress, Executive Director and Global IT Audit, Accenture; Arnold Crater, CIO of RTA (Regional Transit Authority); Lydia Murray, CIO, Cook County; Marlon Burns, CTO of Cook County Health & Hospitals System; Biff Myre, Director of Solutions, WorkNet, Inc., Scott Propp, MD of Dentro Consulting and Michael Kerr, Association Program Executive and State Government Policy Advocacy Expert. ❒
