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Tech Leaders Share Ideas on Job Creation and Innovation

August 4, 2011 at 7:27 PM ET by D. Chen
Summary: 
Some of Silicon Valley's most influential leaders joined Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra to discuss how private/public sector collaborations can lead to job creation
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Earlier this week, top Silicon Valley executives, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, AOL co-founder  Steve Case, venture capitalist John Doerr and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined Aneesh Chopra, CTO of the United States, on a panel to discuss how private and public sectors can collaborate to encourage business growth. In addition to conversations on the unique spirit of entrepreneurial innovation that drives the Silicon Valley's success, Aneesh Chopra announced three clarifications to existing immigration policies that can enable entrepreneurs to start companies here:

 

“First, we're clarifying what it means to declare entrepreneurship in the national interest. Second, in an H1B visa, typically temporary in nature, the question is: Can you come in as an immigrant founder? If there's a way to demonstrate that there's a separation between your role as founder and that role as employee, you have the ability to pursue that existing avenue. Third, we have a category that exists called the EB5 visa for immigrant investors. If you're willing to invest 1 million dollars in the United States and create 10 new jobs you have the authority to come in under this condition. But it's a complicated process and we only use half the alloted slots. So we're streamlining the process and making this more attractive for folks who want to create jobs in industries for the future”

 

Chopra also discussed the contributions immigrants make in terms of job creation and the economy.  John Doerr talked about the role of education and identified the “uniquely American asset” of innovation that enables great economic growth, while Sandberg spoke on the lack of women in technology  and the need for a greater focus on STEM education for girls.

 

Watch the entire session with the video at the top, or skip to highlighted moments using the links above.