New c-pet logo
June 27, 2011
Robert Cohen
We are delighted to announce that Bob Cohen has joined us as Deputy Director and Senior Fellow. He is also heading up our Institute on the Future of the Internet, Social Media, and Exascale/Cloud Computing. I asked him some key questions about this fast-moving field and his responses are below.

 

Bob Cohen works on how cloud services adoption is changing enterprises and telecommunications. He has been a fellow at the Economic Strategy Institute and developed the high tech strategy for New York State under Governor Mario Cuomo. He has helped a number of government groups develop policies for the Internet, including the European Commission's Directorate General XIII during the time it was creating a broad European approach to the Internet based on wider use of the now-global IP standard. He also advised the NSA's technology group on foreign government initiatives to promote the growth of the Internet. Dr. Cohen has also done consulting on telecommunications networks and Internet services for various equipment and services firms, such as IBM, AT&T, and Lucent. He participated in a number of studies at the consulting group, RHK. More recently, Dr. Cohen's work on grid and cloud services includes chairing StreetGrid08, Wall Street's conference on financial services and grids, and serving as Area Director for Enterprise Requirements and a Steering Committee member of the Open Grid Forum. Dr. Cohen has pioneered studies using economic input-output analysis to quantify how enterprise adoption of technologies such as grid computing affects state economies. He was economic advisor to President George H. W. Bush's National Advisory Commission on Semiconductors. Dr. Cohen has taught at NYU's Stern School of Business, the City University of New York, Cooper Union, and Columbia University. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the New School for Social Research and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.

 

 

Recent/upcoming activities include:

  • "iTunes corporations' - cloud computing changes how firms collaborate and is creating new business models," Insight-Spectra, March 2011 (www.insight-spectra.com)
  • Changing the Face of the Internet: Virtual Worlds and the Information Economy: Impacts on European Policy, Jobs and Industrial Competitiveness (Berlin: Business Village, 2009), a book version of a previous paper, "Virtual Worlds and the Transformation of Business (Athena Alliance, 2008), athenaalliance.org/.../VirtualWorldsandtheTransformationofBusiness.pdf "Why enterprises are adopting private clouds and are not making 'The Big Switch'," Insight-Spectra, March 2011 (www.insight-spectra.com 
  •  An analysis of how global financial institutions are using cloud computing (proprietary)
  • Requirements for the Virtual Private Cloud (editor, TMForum/Enterprise Cloud Leadership Council White Paper, forthcoming)
  • Requirements for Database as a Service (editor, TMForum/Enterprise Cloud Leadership Council White Paper, forthcoming)
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob, you have been something of a pioneer at the interface of the internet and its economic/business impacts. How would you best summarize your efforts?

 

I have examined how the Internet and related software innovations, such as grid computing and cloud computing, have affected business organizations and work as we know it. In recent years, we have seen a rise of many emerging technologies, such as the iPhone, highly capable smart phones and cloud architectures that make it possible to transform the way organizations collaborate and how an economy uses skills, social networks and the Internet of things. I find these changes fascinating. I also believe that we are at the beginning of a new services revolution in which, the Internet and changes in communications and computing will result in substantially greater growth than we have seen over the past two decades, particularly in industrial nations.  

 

C-PET is focused on a range of emerging technology issues. As we all know, the internet and, back of it, the chip, with Moore's Law never far from our thinking, is driving disruptive innovation and powering tomorrow's economy. How do you see the internet's role in the next 10 years?

 

I think that there will be several innovations with the Internet. As we have seen in new firms, such as Big Switch, there will be new ways to manage data going over the Internet. In addition, I think that the Glif Open Lightpath Exchange model will make it possible for networks around the world to operate at much lower cost and for those in developing countries to become a part of the high-speed Internet. As a consequence, I think that in ten years, the Internet will be far more useful as a scientific, educational and consumer device. We should also begin to see the Internet substitute for the traditional wired landline network, perhaps using entirely new communications models.

 

CET's nonpartisan, long-term approach sets it apart from most discussions in Washington. Why did you decide to sign up and take on this new role?

 

C-PET fills an intriguing gap in Washington. Usually tech policy is formulated with a short- to medium-range vision. C-PET will take a much longer view. In addition, other Washington centers are very inbred, with a kind of "Washington-think" about technology. C-PET, in creating a National Knowledge Network and by developing ties with some of the nation's best institutes can weave a good deal of non-Washington thinking into the mix. This would be a significant advance.

 

Why do you think it is that the US government is not seen as leading the tech/innovation revolution that US engineers pioneered?

 

Other nations have learned that they can boost their place in tech rankings - Internet use, broadband availability - by spurring technology initiatives that will not be matched by the U.S. This has happened at a time when the traditional U.S. R&D centers in private corporations are declining and overseas governments have learned how to push tech change more rapidly. So, the impression is that the U.S. and the U.S. government is falling behind in the tech/innovation revolution. For some dimensions, such as the Internet rankings, the decline is valid. With greater appreciation of what tech can do for an economy, I think we can develop smarter policies to help grow the next generation of technology. The challenge is the scarcity of government players who have little appreciation of what emerging technologies are contributing to growth and transformation. C-PET has begun to change this and should do more in the coming months.

 

Welcome aboard! 

__________________________________________________________________________ 

Note: If at any time you wish to receive fewer emails from us, to specify your interests, or to receive more event information and commentary, please click on the link below. We know you are busy and appreciate your interest in pursuing tomorrow's questions with us!

 Join Our Mailing List