OPENING REMARKS BY EDWARD R. MCCRACKEN CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SILICON GRAPHICS, INC. THE G-7 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 25, 1995 I'm very pleased and honored to join Vice President Gore and Secretary Brown at this G-7 Ministerial Conference and to speak this morning at the Business Roundtable session. The Vice President and the Secretary have provided strong leadership for America's National Information Infrastructure and for the Global Information Infrastructure. It's also a privilege to be with the Ministers of the G-7 nations and such a distinguished group of international business leaders. This is a historic moment because the G-7 is moving decisively to encourage deployment of the Global Information Infrastructure, which we like to call the Gll. The Gll is a worldwide assembly of systems that integrates communications networks; information equipment; information resources; applications such as education, electronic commerce, and digital libraries; and people of all skill levels and backgrounds. It has the resources, therefore, to have an enormous beneficial impact on the citizens of our nations and people throughout the rest of the world. My international colleagues and I share a common vision of business activities in a global marketplace. We think of international markets, not national boundaries. We search for ways to create a better life for all people and institutions through private technological innovation and capital. We believe that private opportunity and public responsibility go hand-in-hand. In my brief remarks this morning, I want to emphasize just one fundamental point to set the stage for our discussion and dialogue. It is this: successful and early deployment of the Global Information Infrastructure requires vigorous competition and open markets in each of the G-7 nations, and in other countries as well. Markets for all elements of the Gll -- communications networks, information appliances, information and content, software and applications -- must be competitive and open. Marketplace economics, rather than government planning, will produce the broadest selection of high-quality, low-priced, innovative products and services for the Gll. Broad market participation -- across industries and national borders without restrictions based on national origin -- must be the goal. Our call for competition and open markets, I want to emphasize, is not rooted in the traditional private- sector embrace of free-market theory. Our view springs specifically from the dawning of the Information Age,' or, if you prefer, the Information Society, and the new reality of extraordinary technological change. The Industrial Age was characterized in part by large, centralized, corporate and governmental organizations to manage mass production and distribution. The Information Society, based on technology, has new and special requirements for creative freedom, private initiative, and extraordinary risk-taking. Development of new technologies is taking place so rapidly and dramatically in the telecommunications and computer industries that future attempts to control these industries through government planning and tight regulation will seriously impede the Gll. Even within the computer industry, the lightning speed of technological change makes a mockery of long- range centralized planning and close supervision of creative talent. For example, computer power, relative to price, is increasing tenfold every three and a half years. Who is wise enough to predict and plan the future in that volatile technological environment? In my company, we tell young people who apply for jobs, "If you will be uncomfortable having your desk moved every four months, you won't enjoy working for us." Everyone should visit the technology exhibition at this Conference to witness firsthand the technology we're talking about. As the exhibit makes clear, we already have the beginning of the global information infrastructure. Companies are deploying, and people are using, international communication links. I hope the large media delegation that is here will understand and report the need for open markets to enable this technology to flourish. That would help the Gll become a reality and enable people everywhere to receive its full benefits. The computer industry is one of the most competitive in the world. And its incredibly rapid pace of innovation, and that of other industries, must continue unhampered if we are to realize the Gll's full potential. Competition is the driving force for innovation. In the hotly competitive television industry, innovation has led to better products, lower costs, and universal ownership. Ninety- eight percent of American homes have a television set, a higher percentage than those with telephones. Liberalization of the telecommunications sector is only one of the essential steps. Our discussion today is not just about telecommunications. As many other industries, including computer hardware and software, cable television, cellular, and content industries, converge for the Gll, we want to make all of them more competitive. We also must be careful not to extend traditional regulation of the telecommunication industry to other Gll sectors such as the information, computer, and software industries. That will stifle innovation as surely as night follows day. These are not narrow corporate issues. They represent broad opportunities for mankind. We stand on the threshold of unprecedented improvement in all aspects of people's lives, including more jobs, better health, lifelong learning, a cleaner environment, greater cultural opportunities, and a safer society. The key to that progress is information, and the Gll will be a primary platform for the Information Age. Countries that don't welcome competition and open markets to accelerate innovation and deployment of the Global Information Infrastructure will cause a new and tragic condition. I call it "information starvation." While not as deadly as malnutrition, it will stunt children educationally, restrict adults economically, limit patients medically, damage local businesses competitively, and constrain people culturally. By contrast, those countries that allow demand in their nations to be served by the global marketplace will discover that their nations and their businesses will become more competitive. Their people will become better educated and their workers will become more capable of participating in a global workplace. Another important move toward deployment of the Gll, and toward conditions that foster competition is the construction of international test beds, or demonstration projects. They will increase our knowledge about the technical, economic, human, and political issues involved. They also will tell us what people want from the Gll and how these services will be paid for. Each of the G-7 countries has demonstration projects underway, and I hope more international ones will be launched soon. Governments, obviously, have important roles in the Gll. People and institutions must trust the Gll and feel safe using it. Dealing with the issues of intellectual property, privacy, and security, for example, will require updated laws, and perhaps new laws, in our respective countries. Intergovernmental leadership and cooperation sill be essential. Additionally, it is critical that the various elements of Gll can connect easily with each other across industries and national boundaries. Governments can support this by encouraging establishment of industry-led, voluntary standards for these interfaces in all countries. As we approach the serious and challenging issues involved with the Global Information Infrastructure, however, we must keep our vision focused on people, not just industries and government. The Gll is not a technological curiosity. With its broad base of information industries, its importance is how it will change the way people throughout the world live, work, learn, enjoy life, and relate to each other. My colleagues and I from the private sector understand our responsibilities to create world-class products and services at reasonable prices, expand our markets, and generate investment capital. That will produce the Gll. I urge everyone here from the private sector to work in partnership with their own governments, as needed, to help create competition and open markets. Those are the only sure paths to deliver real benefits to real people in every corner of the globe.