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Project
Description If the aircraft
industry had evolved as spectacularly as the information technology
industry over the past 25 years, a Boeing 777 would cost $500 today,
and it would circle the globe in 20 minutes on 20 litres of fuel.
Just as the industrial revolution created a new world order of leaders (developed nations) and followers (developing countries), the informational revolution presents a new set of challenges and opportunities. Research shows that the likelihood of success in utilizing information technology involves four prerequisites - a careful determination of strategic applications, an intelligent selection of technologies, a willingness to incorporate appropriate changes in the organizational structure, and a vision for government, academia, and industry to work closely together to create the infrastructure in the most economic manner. Governments have a major role to play in all four of these dimensions. At MIT, researchers focused on the centralized model for computation; then on local computing; and now back again on large regional and national systems. For goods to be competitively priced, the supply chain needs to be streamlined, which involves emerging technologies like neural networks and data mining. And to improve the efficiency of many sectors, the dependence on paper media has to be gradually dispensed with. All these must be visualized within the framework of an overarching vision. The Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of Brazil has provided the seed money for initiating studies on Information Technology for National Development with specific emphasis on Internet 2. Organizations representing other countries are welcome to join this initiative and should contact Dr. Amar Gupta (617) 253-8906; agupta@mit.edu. |
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