Economic stimulus
Investments in healthcare, education, science, energy and our IT infrastructure seed growth
Tab navigation
- Visions
- Ideas - selected tab,
- Perspectives
- Examples
Infrastructure and healthcare investments
A new American presidential administration is always a time full of promise—but this year, coming in the midst of the worst financial crisis in decades, it's a unique mixture of urgency and hope. IBM Chairman Sam Palmisano, in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, described the potential of some Smarter Planet capabilities—in healthcare IT, smart grids and broadband—for new job creation, economic recovery and the shaping of a 21st-century infrastructure.
Infrastructure investments are by far our best path to creating new jobs and stimulating growth because these investments have greater "multiplier" effects than traditional infrastructure projects such as highways and bridges. New IT capabilities prompt new consumer and business behaviors, produce new functionalities and yield downstream industries. Many of these new jobs will be in small and medium businesses.
Three critical areas to invest in smarter systems
Smarter healthcare
Healthcare vies with the economy as the top-of-mind issue for Americans. Today, only 4% of U.S. medical offices use fully functional electronic health records. By investing in the broad adoption of electronic records as well as new models of care such as the Medical Home, we can begin to transform our vast conglomeration of medical entities into an integrated, highly functioning system, reducing costs and errors and significantly improving the overall quality of care.
Sainte-Justine Hospital and the Geisinger Health Care System illustrate what smarter healthcare looks like.
Smarter power grids
Our power grids are the last remaining artifacts of the Industrial Age. By using broadband data streams, digital sensors and advanced analytics, utilities can understand demand in real time, source and manage power more effectively, and put greater control of usage into the hands of consumers. Investment in a smart grid has the potential to create jobs in power, alternative energy and automotive markets.
Broadband access
We live in a digital world. Our work, management of money, purchasing of goods and services, education, communications, relationships and entertainment are all possible online. Yet the United States ranks 12th in broadband penetration and 15th in average broadband speed. IBM has recently begun working with providers to develop broadband over power lines to provide Internet access for rural communities where cable and DSL access are not feasible.
Communities with broadband access can grow employment at a significantly higher, faster rate. Improve the responsiveness of their emergency services. Reduce crime. And widen access to government services and resources.
