1.3cr tech jobs to be created in 2 yrs

NEW YORK: IBM Chief Executive Officer Samuel Palmisano said that the Unites States needs to step up the pace of innovation to help stem the flow of technology jobs overseas.

Palmisano said that he expects 13 million jobs to be created in the next two years around the world, including in rapidly developing countries such as China, India and South Korea.

"We are at a critical moment," he said. "Because if we're not careful, the U.S. will fall out of step with the new realities of innovation. If that were to happen, the innovators and risk-takers would go elsewhere. Because today they can."

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the Council on Competitiveness in Washington D.C., which is creating a National Innovation Initiative to come up with ideas on how to continue to innovate in the face of such competition.

Other countries are becoming more competitive not only in wages but in education, job skills and network infrastructure, he said.

"We believe the United States must again raise the bar -- to take the steps necessary to keep the nation at the forefront, to continue to offer the most fertile and attractive environment for innovation in the world," Palmisano said.

Palmisano's comments come at a time when IBM and other companies are shifting jobs overseas as they try to cut costs.

Last week, Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett said that the semiconductor company no longer planned to invest in California and that its investments were following its markets, 70 percent of which are outside the United States.

Earlier this month, Intel Corp. co-founder Andrew Grove said that U.S. dominance in key tech sectors was at risk, comparing it to the fate of the U.S. steel industry.

"It would be a miracle if it didn't happen in the software and services industry," Grove said.

The comments also come about six months after the head of Oracle Corp., technology industry veteran Larry Ellison, stirred up controversy by saying that innovation was all but gone in the U.S. and that Silicon Valley, the home of start-up technology companies, was dead.

The U.S. has had sustained innovation over decades, Palmisano said, but needs to work more with business, academia, labor and government to not lose that history of innovation to other countries.

Palmisano said that he will head the initiative that will issue a report on its findings in 6 to 9 months and then hold a summit in 12 to 15 months.

© Reuters