[Applause]
what if I were to tell you that the way
in which governments govern as we’ve
known it as we’ve ever known it in the
history of the human race will never be
the same we are living in a time where
there’s a fundamental shift between the
forces of economic and political power
like we’ve never seen why because
businesses have been able to leverage
the interconnectivity of information
technology and may have been able to
build massive global infrastructure with
unprecedented power while government
remained in its wake
what do I mean by that we
entered unchartered territory and an
error in which government relative to
its economic power is at its historic
nadir and I’ll need to embrace emerging
technology is at its apex and I would
urge policy makers they might want to go
down to the digital services groups and
give those folks a hug so what do I mean
by all this what is government’s new
responsibility what is the new formula
in this changing global economy and I’m
going to be very careful with the math
here given the proximity to MIT is
government meant to be innovators are
they meant to foster forward-thinking
policy should they be embracing emerging
technology well the answer is yes they
should and they must and why is that
government today has an opportunity if
this formula is right government today
and the policies that they implement are
going to affect every single person how
it will impact the way that jobs are
created how innovation is stimulated and
it might even change the way that
government policy itself is financed so
how can government do this well simply
they have the tools they need to
leverage the most powerful economic
development tool they have which are
known as tax credits and incentives
along with emerging technology to create
opportunities for its citizens
so is government prepared to embrace new
technology we all know of examples of
businesses that were disrupted or
completely dislodged by emergent
technology because they weren’t prepared
now I want to talk about one of them
that’s a little personal to me and that
is the New York Stock Exchange why the
New York Stock Exchange I grew up on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange
there’s me and we were unprepared for
new technology and specifically in this
case for electronic trading I mean our
systems were so antiquated we ended
every day
and piles of paper I mean look at this
poor guy and I remember when new
technology was introduced to the seat
holders of the exchange and I was a
young man so I was brought into a pilot
program where I was on with the best
technology and in its day and I was
given a flip phone and earpiece and a
Palm Pilot so I can better communicate
with my team and my customers to have a
competitive advantage but but it was too
late a two hundred and twenty year old
institution was acquired by a start-up
and here’s the New York Stock Exchange
today now don’t get me wrong very
important institution but perhaps better
known as one of the great television
studios for business news reporting and
now we grew up but we prepared for
technology I mean it’s my view that you
know we’re born with a social security
number to an Apple ID so we are prepared
for technology in this day and age so is
government prepared to leverage the
best-in-class technology in order to
provide opportunities for its citizens
so we know the balance has shifted and
the balance has shifted because
businesses today can manage their
operations 24/7 from any point on the
globe while governments remain local and
geographic in nature and this further is
upsetting the shift between the balance
of economic and political power so if we
were to look back in history
government’s economic influence it was
all-powerful the king was the economy
the Pope was the economy and this
dynamic began to shift about 500 years
ago and that shift accelerator the 1940s
primarily due to technology developed by
government to fight wars but once
Unleashed into the commercial economy
government’s economic influence began to
win so today some would argue that
entrepreneurs and startups have the
greatest impact on economic policy and
that was not always the case so I’ll
give a few examples of this shift in
power between political and economics
the government wanted to break up
Standard Oil they were prepared to use
force to seize assets Rockefeller had a
gold company Roosevelt had a big old
army
guess who won I think it was Al Capone
who allegedly said a parent a pistol
will beat a full house any time but that
dynamic changed drastically with the
government’s attempt to break up
Microsoft’s operating systems from its
applications because in this case
Microsoft’s assets were primarily people
and they can move their operations at
any point in time if they didn’t get the
settlement they wanted from government
and most recently and as a result of a
very tragic incident the settlement with
British Petroleum and the government was
very benign and again why because the
company was prepared to bankrupt BP
America and centralized all of its
operations overseas
so today the speed and accuracy of
information technology or the ability
for blockchain to deliver an immutable
ledger system of assets that transact
between companies and countries it’s
super simple for companies of any size
today to compete on a global level so
there is a change and a shift in the
behavior between government and business
so if this formula is true and
government has the power today how is it
going to get the behavior amounts from
business how is it going to encourage
good corporate citizenship today
government needs to use carrots rather
than sticks they can no longer force
themselves on business and the pace at
which government can adapt to this may
determine where the next big innovation
is well we’re the next Silicon Valley
and it might not be in the United States
so today what I argue is that government
can leverage the most powerful economic
development tool that it has to
surgically stimulate investment in
companies and an industry that are
innovative and important to
jurisdiction and create the best jobs
and that is through the use of tax
credits and incentives and this is not a
fluke
this is a trend that is going to
continue and it is not only in the
United States as jurisdictions compete
for innovation and for the best jobs
within its jurisdictions and these
policies work and they don’t just affect
business they affect families they
affect children they affect every one of
us and you may not know it these
policies create innovation in industries
and how we consume on our daily lives
and they are super important but I’ll
also ask does government have the
technology today does business have the
technology today to properly manage this
very important asset and to maximize its
value and the benefit of its citizens
and I would argue no I would think they
are still on horse and buggy with
respect to this particular asset class
but fear not there is technology
available today that can help all
stakeholders touch on credits and
incentives and help them really gain
control of the asset and maximize its
value which is extraordinarily important
particularly when new regulation is
around the corner that is meant and
designed to help government analyze the
true economic benefit of these policies
not only gets financial impact but the
ancillary values so we understand that
government’s power and influences change
which I have been talking about but
government still has enormous power
historically they’ve had two forms of a
true global political power one military
power and the second is the ability to
print money now what happens if the
government’s ability to control the
money supply is diluted and blockchain
and crypto currencies is a direct
assault on that last bastion of true
global power while all bets are off and
once again the way that governments
govern and the relationship to have
businesses compete will forever change
and blockchain and cryptocurrencies are
transformational forces that will change
the way that business is done on every
level and so what if you took that a
step further what if you took these very
important assets known as credits and
incentives and you made them blockchain
enabled and that is inevitable and that
will happen
what if once you can properly manage how
these assets are being distributed and
utilized for the purposes of fostering
innovation
what happens if government can utilize
this asset blockchain enabled credits
and incentives as an alternative to the
a municipal bond market to finance its
own fiscal policies whether it be to
build hospitals or schools or to fund
economic development programs themselves
what do I mean by that well certain
jurisdictions and many find munis a bond
financing prohibitive it’s
time-consuming it’s costly it might
require a constitutional amendment or a
referendum they might not have the
credit rating they might not want the
credit risk so imagine a day and age and
I can see this in the future where
government can really make that formula
true by utilizing this innovation of
technology and this very important
innovation through fiscal policy now
couple that with new and emerging
technologies where government can really
measure the value and the movement of
value and I don’t just mean monetary
value I mean the value of quality of
life or job creation all the things that
credits and incentives are meant to do
once government can properly analyze
that well then they can they can improve
and nurture this relationship between
government and business and really
remain relevant
so imagine using machine learning or AI
or Big Data predictive analytics the
possibilities are endless so why is this
important today well one of the most
innovative incentive programs to
potentially be legislated over the in
decades came out of the most recent 2017
Tax Reform Act and those are both
opportunity zones what’s really
interesting about opportunity zones is
two things one government as it is local
in an Geographic in nature federal
government realizing this empowered the
fifty governors to identify economically
distressed areas and created programs
that can directly impact public private
investments in these communities and the
the opportunities no pun intended are
endless and listen if I’m a new business
I would locate in a an opportunity zone
and once you marry technology to the
analysis of that once you can map where
the opportunity is measure the benefit
and identify the outcome best-in-class
policies will emerge and we will
continue to fine-tune this relationship
between government and business so today
both government and business need to
think differently about credits and
incentives and about technology in the
past businesses may have looked at
credits and incentives as a tactical a
nice-to-have
whereas today it must be strategic in
nature it is going to be the difference
in enable companies to compete and win
on the margins and in the same way it
affords government the ability for it to
that matter today we are in an era of
massive disruption we are in an
opportunity where King things are
changing rapidly due to emerging
technology due to policy changes due to
this relationship between government and
business and it’s a very exciting time
because when you can marry together all
of this technology with the opportunity
we’re living in some very exciting times
technology needs to be leveraged in its
proper way it’s a unleash business
innovation entrepreneurial activity and
human creativity in that way all of this
will come together and really change the
lives of its citizens and companies
should also look within their ranks and
ceos and cfos might want to look at the
most important department and their
organization and it may be their tax
guys or their IT guys and so you may
want to give those folks a hug thank you
very much [Applause]
what if I were to tell you that the way
in which governments govern as we’ve
known it as we’ve ever known it in the
history of the human race will never be
the same we are living in a time where
there’s a fundamental shift between the
forces of economic and political power
like we’ve never seen why because
businesses have been able to leverage
the interconnectivity of information
technology and may have been able to
build massive global infrastructure with
unprecedented power while government
remained in its wake
what do I mean by that we
entered unchartered territory and an
error in which government relative to
its economic power is at its historic
nadir and I’ll need to embrace emerging
technology is at its apex and I would
urge policy makers they might want to go
down to the digital services groups and
give those folks a hug so what do I mean
by all this what is government’s new
responsibility what is the new formula
in this changing global economy and I’m
going to be very careful with the math
here given the proximity to MIT is
government meant to be innovators are
they meant to foster forward-thinking
policy should they be embracing emerging
technology well the answer is yes they
should and they must and why is that
government today has an opportunity if
this formula is right government today
and the policies that they implement are
going to affect every single person how
it will impact the way that jobs are
created how innovation is stimulated and
it might even change the way that
government policy itself is financed so
how can government do this well simply
they have the tools they need to
leverage the most powerful economic
development tool they have which are
known as tax credits and incentives
along with emerging technology to create
opportunities for its citizens
so is government prepared to embrace new
technology we all know of examples of
businesses that were disrupted or
completely dislodged by emergent
technology because they weren’t prepared
now I want to talk about one of them
that’s a little personal to me and that
is the New York Stock Exchange why the
New York Stock Exchange I grew up on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange
there’s me and we were unprepared for
new technology and specifically in this
case for electronic trading I mean our
systems were so antiquated we ended
every day
and piles of paper I mean look at this
poor guy and I remember when new
technology was introduced to the seat
holders of the exchange and I was a
young man so I was brought into a pilot
program where I was on with the best
technology and in its day and I was
given a flip phone and earpiece and a
Palm Pilot so I can better communicate
with my team and my customers to have a
competitive advantage but but it was too
late a two hundred and twenty year old
institution was acquired by a start-up
and here’s the New York Stock Exchange
today now don’t get me wrong very
important institution but perhaps better
known as one of the great television
studios for business news reporting and
now we grew up but we prepared for
technology I mean it’s my view that you
know we’re born with a social security
number to an Apple ID so we are prepared
for technology in this day and age so is
government prepared to leverage the
best-in-class technology in order to
provide opportunities for its citizens
so we know the balance has shifted and
the balance has shifted because
businesses today can manage their
operations 24/7 from any point on the
globe while governments remain local and
geographic in nature and this further is
upsetting the shift between the balance
of economic and political power so if we
were to look back in history
government’s economic influence it was
all-powerful the king was the economy
the Pope was the economy and this
dynamic began to shift about 500 years
ago and that shift accelerator the 1940s
primarily due to technology developed by
government to fight wars but once
Unleashed into the commercial economy
government’s economic influence began to
win so today some would argue that
entrepreneurs and startups have the
greatest impact on economic policy and
that was not always the case so I’ll
give a few examples of this shift in
power between political and economics
the government wanted to break up
Standard Oil they were prepared to use
force to seize assets Rockefeller had a
gold company Roosevelt had a big old
army
guess who won I think it was Al Capone
who allegedly said a parent a pistol
will beat a full house any time but that
dynamic changed drastically with the
government’s attempt to break up
Microsoft’s operating systems from its
applications because in this case
Microsoft’s assets were primarily people
and they can move their operations at
any point in time if they didn’t get the
settlement they wanted from government
and most recently and as a result of a
very tragic incident the settlement with
British Petroleum and the government was
very benign and again why because the
company was prepared to bankrupt BP
America and centralized all of its
operations overseas
so today the speed and accuracy of
information technology or the ability
for blockchain to deliver an immutable
ledger system of assets that transact
between companies and countries it’s
super simple for companies of any size
today to compete on a global level so
there is a change and a shift in the
behavior between government and business
so if this formula is true and
government has the power today how is it
going to get the behavior amounts from
business how is it going to encourage
good corporate citizenship today
government needs to use carrots rather
than sticks they can no longer force
themselves on business and the pace at
which government can adapt to this may
determine where the next big innovation
is well we’re the next Silicon Valley
and it might not be in the United States
so today what I argue is that government
can leverage the most powerful economic
development tool that it has to
surgically stimulate investment in
companies and an industry that are
innovative and important to
jurisdiction and create the best jobs
and that is through the use of tax
credits and incentives and this is not a
fluke
this is a trend that is going to
continue and it is not only in the
United States as jurisdictions compete
for innovation and for the best jobs
within its jurisdictions and these
policies work and they don’t just affect
business they affect families they
affect children they affect every one of
us and you may not know it these
policies create innovation in industries
and how we consume on our daily lives
and they are super important but I’ll
also ask does government have the
technology today does business have the
technology today to properly manage this
very important asset and to maximize its
value and the benefit of its citizens
and I would argue no I would think they
are still on horse and buggy with
respect to this particular asset class
but fear not there is technology
available today that can help all
stakeholders touch on credits and
incentives and help them really gain
control of the asset and maximize its
value which is extraordinarily important
particularly when new regulation is
around the corner that is meant and
designed to help government analyze the
true economic benefit of these policies
not only gets financial impact but the
ancillary values so we understand that
government’s power and influences change
which I have been talking about but
government still has enormous power
historically they’ve had two forms of a
true global political power one military
power and the second is the ability to
print money now what happens if the
government’s ability to control the
money supply is diluted and blockchain
and crypto currencies is a direct
assault on that last bastion of true
global power while all bets are off and
once again the way that governments
govern and the relationship to have
businesses compete will forever change
and blockchain and cryptocurrencies are
transformational forces that will change
the way that business is done on every
level and so what if you took that a
step further what if you took these very
important assets known as credits and
incentives and you made them blockchain
enabled and that is inevitable and that
will happen
what if once you can properly manage how
these assets are being distributed and
utilized for the purposes of fostering
innovation
what happens if government can utilize
this asset blockchain enabled credits
and incentives as an alternative to the
a municipal bond market to finance its
own fiscal policies whether it be to
build hospitals or schools or to fund
economic development programs themselves
what do I mean by that well certain
jurisdictions and many find munis a bond
financing prohibitive it’s
time-consuming it’s costly it might
require a constitutional amendment or a
referendum they might not have the
credit rating they might not want the
credit risk so imagine a day and age and
I can see this in the future where
government can really make that formula
true by utilizing this innovation of
technology and this very important
innovation through fiscal policy now
couple that with new and emerging
technologies where government can really
measure the value and the movement of
value and I don’t just mean monetary
value I mean the value of quality of
life or job creation all the things that
credits and incentives are meant to do
once government can properly analyze
that well then they can they can improve
and nurture this relationship between
government and business and really
remain relevant
so imagine using machine learning or AI
or Big Data predictive analytics the
possibilities are endless so why is this
important today well one of the most
innovative incentive programs to
potentially be legislated over the in
decades came out of the most recent 2017
Tax Reform Act and those are both
opportunity zones what’s really
interesting about opportunity zones is
two things one government as it is local
in an Geographic in nature federal
government realizing this empowered the
fifty governors to identify economically
distressed areas and created programs
that can directly impact public private
investments in these communities and the
the opportunities no pun intended are
endless and listen if I’m a new business
I would locate in a an opportunity zone
and once you marry technology to the
analysis of that once you can map where
the opportunity is measure the benefit
and identify the outcome best-in-class
policies will emerge and we will
continue to fine-tune this relationship
between government and business so today
both government and business need to
think differently about credits and
incentives and about technology in the
past businesses may have looked at
credits and incentives as a tactical a
nice-to-have
whereas today it must be strategic in
nature it is going to be the difference
in enable companies to compete and win
on the margins and in the same way it
affords government the ability for it to
that matter today we are in an era of
massive disruption we are in an
opportunity where King things are
changing rapidly due to emerging
technology due to policy changes due to
this relationship between government and
business and it’s a very exciting time
because when you can marry together all
of this technology with the opportunity
we’re living in some very exciting times
technology needs to be leveraged in its
proper way it’s a unleash business
innovation entrepreneurial activity and
human creativity in that way all of this
will come together and really change the
lives of its citizens and companies
should also look within their ranks and
ceos and cfos might want to look at the
most important department and their
organization and it may be their tax
guys or their IT guys and so you may
want to give those folks a hug thank you
very much [Applause]
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