The Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership and the Economic Apocalypse (SKIL) Bill (S. 2691| H.R. 5744)

The TechNet Innovation Summit will be held tomorrow at Stanford University. Founded in 1997 the annual Summit is a techie hoopla event to boost the view that -- what's good for technology is good for the nation and vice versa.

Fresh back from Moscow and a one to one with President Putin ,Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, is expected to explain why high-tech and biotech firms want the ability to hire more skilled workers from abroad under the H-1B visa program - his talk is entitled "The Global Knowledge Economy: Keeping our Competitive Edge"

Compete America "The Alliance for a Competitive Workforce" Their website claims to promote the belief that it is fundamental to the US economic interest to provide ..a secure and efficient immigration system that welcomes highly educated and talented profesionals to our nation.

They have sent a letter today to Congress representing over 200 companies and academic institutions ...

"The undersigned organizations urgently request your support to ensure that U.S. businesses and universities have continued access to necessary talent, and for the U.S. to remain the world’s innovation leader. We urge Congress to pass the provisions that would relieve the drastic H-1B and EB green card problems before adjournment."

"We have widespread support for the provisions we're pushing, but they've been caught up in the broader immigration debate this year," said Lynn Shotwell, chairwoman of Compete America.

These are some of the member companies of the Steering Committtee of Compete America.
American Hospital Association, EDS, Electronic Industries Alliance, Hewlett-Packard Company,
Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola Inc.,Oracle Corporation, QUALCOMM Inc..
Sun Microsystems Inc.,Texas Instruments Incorporated, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

For the Compete America education / Factsheets etc on The Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership (SKIL) Bill (S. 2691| H.R. 5744) go here.