Video from Drake University on Ustream
Robert Reich’s rescheduled speech at Drake University came at a fortuitous time. Reich, a political economist and the former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, was scheduled to visit Des Moines and Iowa City in February but had to reschedule on account of illness. So Reich, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley visited Iowa last week, delivering one talk in Iowa City and two more in Des Moines. The final talk, on Thursday night at Drake’s Sheslow Auditorium, came shortly after President Barack Obama delivered an address on the job crisis and unveiled the “American Jobs Act.”
Reich used the President’s address as a launching point for his own talk, which also borrowed heavily from ideas explored in Reich’s most recent book, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” Fair warning: the talk is a tad political and doesn’t focus on entrepreneurship, per se, so it’s something of a variation from standard Silicon Prairie News fare. But Reich does make a couple of points that should pique the interest of entrepreneurs and innovators:
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Health care
Reich contends, at the 22:45 mark of the video, that the United States’ future debt is attributable “almost entirely … to rising health care costs.” Greater emphasis on preventative medicine, Reich says, is essential to eliminating those costs.
And how can the U.S. improve its preventative medicine? There’s no all-encompassing elixir, but one big part of the equation will be innovation in medical technology. It’s a theme As United States Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra discussed in his talk this at Big Omaha in May, and it’s an area of immense opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Education
At about the 46-minute mark, Reich delves into the importance of education to the future of the country. “Over the long term,” he says, “we must invest wisely in education.” That seems like something of a no-brainer, but it is, again, an indication that high-level political influencers see a need that innovators and entrepreneurs can help address.
The future of education — and the role technological advances will play in it — was another point Chopra hammered home during his Big Omaha speech. What’s more, we witnessed at the Kauffman Labs Venture Showcase in June the resources and brainpower the Kauffman Foundation is putting behind innovation in education. It may not pack the same sizzle as social networking, gaming or music-sharing, but for entrepreneurs who have the wherewithal, the education space appears ripe for the picking.
