The Next Best Idea May Come from a Rural Entrepreneur. TV White Spaces Can Help.
For decades, America’s rural communities have led the country in entrepreneurship. However, rural entrepreneurship is on the decline, and the lack of something essential is jeopardizing entrepreneurial opportunity in rural America. Today, 23.4 million rural Americans live without access to high-speed internet, a resource on which modern businesses depend to connect with consumers around the globe. In conjunction with programs like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Universal Service Fund (USF), we know that utilizing television white spaces (TVWS) can provide [...]
ACT |The App Association Urges European Commission to Announce a Prohibition on use-based pricing of patents essential to the internet of things
ACT | The App Association (The App Association), a trade association championing small tech innovators, today (Wednesday) called on the European Commission to announce a prohibition on any form of use-based pricing of technology essential to the development of the internet of things (IoT). The Commission is expected to publish a Communication on standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the coming weeks containing guidance on how they should be licenced to help foster the development of an IoT sector in Europe, which the [...]
Can’t Have One Without the Other: The Groundbreaking Dynamic of Apps and Mobile Platforms
When you think about it, the success of the smartphone is really the story of the success of mobile apps. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, he didn’t want an App Store. He envisioned a world where apps were solely web-based, and iPhones were hermetically sealed and inaccessible to app developers. Eventually, and inevitably, Apple and the makers of smartphones gave in to demands from consumers to provide access to the wealth of innovative apps built into their devices. [...]
Everyone’s Talking Tax Reform, But What Does It Mean for Us?
In today’s legislative environment, tax reform is on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Whether discussing the corporate tax rate, childcare exemptions, or credits and deductions, changes to the tax code will have an impact on America’s small businesses, app developers, and tech innovators. Congress and the Trump Administration have introduced outlines of their tax reform plans that will affect taxpaying individuals and businesses across the country. As drivers of the economy, small businesses create 64 percent of new private sector [...]
The Good, the Bad, and the Potential for Computer Science Education
The United States is a global leader in technology. A key driver of the American economy, high tech industries account for roughly 12 percent of the U.S. total employment, but contribute nearly one quarter of economic output. Despite the influence and importance of tech, our country faces a serious workforce gap -- nearly 500,000 competitive, well-paying computing jobs are currently unfilled across the United States. With only one in four K-12 schools offering classes dedicated to computer science, and only [...]
Our Country Faces Some Serious Gaps. Broadband Access Can Help Fill Them.
Despite economic shifts in traditional industries like manufacturing and agriculture, the U.S. tech sector is booming, with jobs within the sector growing 3 percent every year. However, the American workforce is struggling to keep up. The United States has more than 500,000 unfilled computing jobs today, and unless we address this serious issue, that number is expected to double by 2024. American colleges and universities only graduate 40,000 students with computer science degrees each year, and just 25 percent of [...]