State CIO Role in Economic Development

Here is an interesting one.

A recent paper issued by the National Association of State CIOs encourages state CIOs to be active in leveraging state governments' IT and communications investments for economic development.

The National Association of State CIOs on Tuesday released a paper aimed at encouraging state CIOs to become active in leveraging state governments' IT and communications investments for economic development. In addition, the paper sees CIOs serving as liaisons to the state's technology community, economic development corporations, chambers of commerce, and other IT-intensive businesses because of their role leading one of their states' largest IT shops. CIOs are ideally situated to help evangelize the importance of the Internet and high-tech technology to the state's economic future, says George Boersman, director of the Office of Technology Partnerships for Michigan's IT department and chair of the NASCIO panel that wrote the paper. "CIOs need to grab hold of that," he says.

Only two states, Virginia and Colorado, have formally defined wide-ranging economic development roles for their top government technology officials. In both states, the CIOs who handle day-to-day policies and operations of government IT report to these cabinet-level secretaries. Still, the NASCIO paper says, there's much other CIOs can do to champion economic development.

One example: becoming well versed in alternate ways to make broadband access universal as a means to spur economic growth. The state CIO will want to be involved in the discussion to assure the chosen approach will further the goal of pervasive access in underserved or economically stressed areas, the paper says.

Download the brief here.

More here.