Cornell Business

Issue date: 5/3/00 Section: Johnson News

Barrett Visits the Parker Center [Click to enlarge]

Intel President and CEO Craig R. Barrett delivered this year's Lewis H. Durland Memorial Lecture to a packed Kennedy Hall Auditorium. Entitled “Education and Technology in the New Economy,” the speech included an historical perspective of the new economy and commentary on the ability of the US educational system to prepare students for the new workplace.

Barrett described the Internet’s proliferation as a “worldwide phenomenon,” and anticipates that Internet penetration will become equalized across the globe. To illustrate the magnitude of Internet business in the global economy, Barrett compared projections for $7 trillion of worldwide business-to-business e-commerce in the next four years with the total US gross domestic product of $10 trillion. He translated these expectations into a positive outlook for new economy business.

To accommodate the continued explosion of Internet technology, Barrett articulated a need for more qualified math and science students. He commended top US universities—specifically citing Cornell and Stamford—for producing top-notch scientists and engineers. He criticized the nation’s overall educational system, however, as inadequate for the new economy. He cited comparisons among the top 20-industrialized nations that indicate US students are equivalent to their counterparts in fourth grade, but in last place by twelfth grade.

Barrett indicated he did not expect the system “will somehow correct itself from within,” but will require external pressures. Major corporations like Intel, and top universities like Cornell, He argued, are needed to initiate appropriate changes. He expressed optimism regarding corporate initiatives, such as Intel’s recent joint-initiative with Microsoft to teach a thousand teachers how to integrate computer technology into their classrooms.
Despite his fairly ominous characterization of the American educational system, Barrett presented the situation as an “opportunity for leadership” and encouraged the audience to embrace the challenge. He also inserted some levity into the presentation with a few new economy jokes, including a reference to “EBE” or “Earnings Before Expenses” as a valuation method for technology companies.

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