Commentary: Time To Seize The Moment And Unlock The ‘Treasure Trove’ Of Federal Data

Steven VanRoekel | Washington Post | April 28, 2013

Occasionally, we publish blog posts, speech transcripts and other commentaries of interest to the Washington Business community. Here is an excerpt from a recent keynote address by Steven VanRoekel, the U.S. government’s chief information officer, to the Bethesda chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. These remarks were taken from a larger discussion about federal budget priorities in the coming year.

When the going gets tough in this country, innovation tends to follow disruption.

Be it a financial crisis, a war or what have you, we tend as a country to step up in those darkest times to innovate. Over 50 percent of the Fortune 500 companies founded in this country started in the worst economic times.