At this week’s Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha and Madeline spoke with Ross Dakin of the New Jersey Office of Innovation. Ross is a technologist whose background spans Silicon Valley startups, corporate enterprise, federal/state/local government, national non-profits, and academia. This made him a perfect match to work for New Jersey’s first Chief Innovation Officer, a role created as part of Gov Murphy’s commitment to making the state cutting edge and to showing how government can be more innovative in how it provides services. Ross currently focuses on alleviating unemployment and facilitating small business growth, with a special emphasis on Covid recovery, and loves the opportunity to translate work he did as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow from the federal to the state level. Ross helped us understand how ubiquitous and important tech is–and as such, the enormous equity questions it creates. We talked about the tensions of being cutting edge vs being built to last, the importance of trust–and the dangers of the current widespread distrust of government; and the challenges of scale–the government can’t (or shouldn’t…) choose its customers.. We shared eye-opening insights about what, and who, the government is. Ross underscored that the United States is a 250 year old experiment whereas China is a 2000 year empire. As such, we can’t rest on our laurels and we NEED technology to help us address the many threats of our time. Ross encouraged us–and our listeners–to go into public service, emphasizing that if you have ability and enough passion, there’s no way you won’t change the world. You’re sure to be inspired by this episode. Thank you for listening!
