2016-12-17

TechReview: Silicon Valley's Pilgrimage to Trump Tower to Meet Trump

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Feature • Silicon Valley's pilgrimage to Trump Tower in New York City, to meet with President-elect Trump, on Wednesday, December 14, 2016:

Digital Image | Digital Trump: Many Colors | ©2016 John Poole | DomainMondo.com
Digital Trump: Many Colors | ©2016 John Poole | DomainMondo.com
Tech leaders at the confab included Eric Schmidt and Larry Page (Alphabet/Google), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Ginni Rometty (IBM), Satya Nadella and Brad Smith (Microsoft), Safra Catz (Oracle), Tim Cook (Apple), Chuck Robbins (Cisco), Brian Krzanich (Intel), Alex Karp (Palantir), Elon Musk (SpaceX and Tesla), and of course, Peter Thiel (entrepreneur and venture capitalist). Besides Trump, persons present from his campaign and transition team included Vice President-elect Pence, Commerce Secretary-nominee Wilbur Ross, Gary Cohn (Trump's selection for Director of the National Economic Council), Reince Priebus (Trump's White House Chief of Staff), Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner (entrepreneur and Trump's son-in-law), Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. After introductions (video below), reportedly Jared Kushner kicked off the discussion and many subjects were covered including:
  • Job creation;
  • China;
  • Immigration including the need for H-1B visas for the tech industry;
  • Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education;
  • Paid maternity leave;
  • Infrastructure needs, including upgrading the electric grid;
  • Tax reform to allow repatriation of tech company profits trapped abroad; 
  • Alphabet/Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt suggested to Trump that he be the “software president,” after noting governmental information-technology programs were antiquated and unsafe, and needed to be upgraded.
Trump Introductory Remarks With Tech Executives:


Look who else showed up this week at Trump Tower:


Other Tech News / Quick Takes:

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