Tech startups shouldn't be afraid to try to bring innovation to improve the federal government, just like they have for other industries, U.S. CTO Megan Smith told an audience Wednesday at data analytics startup Zoomdata.
Smith had come to Zoomdata's Reston, Va. headquarters as part of Startup Day Across America, a Congress-led celebration of startups, promoting ideas about how tech startups and the federal government can work together to improve the country.
Amid beachballs and a wheeled robot with the face of a long-distance team member, Smith watched a demonstration of the visual analytics software that Zoomdata is licensing out. At the event, CEO Justin Langseth walked Smith through how the company's data analytics platform works--noting that the visual aspect of it has made it easier for to impart the meaning behind the numbers, something Smith agreed could have large implications.
"I always hope for products like this because they just change everything," Smith said, comparing it to how weather forecasting, which has its own complex data, is taken for granted in visual format. Analytics should all be "as easy at the weather,"she said.
Innovative tech starts with support for tech education, Smith said, especially for women. And far too many women feel discouraged about pursing tech careers, despite how many women pioneered computer science like Ada Lovelace and the women who ran the code decryption computers for the British and U.S. during World War II.
"It's a lost history we need to recover," Smith said. "You need your heroes, and it helps if they look like you."
Smith connected the importance of encouraging tech education with how tech startups should play a bigger role in how the country governs itself. As examples she cited government-led initiatives like TechHire, which helps people find tech jobs, including as part of the government, and how President Obama hiring big names in Silicon Valley to work in his administration has encouraged other people working in tech to follow suit. Regardless of the method though, Smith said getting innovators and tech-minded people to play a part in how the government functions is good for everyone.
"We want to have you guys serve a term in government," Smith said."It's our country, this is one way how we make sure we're part of it too."
