Tech industry’s promise for economic recovery

The International Consumer Electronics Show is delighted to be back in Las Vegas -- 2009 marks our 30th year together. The International CES is an exciting time for the global technology industry, with attendees pouring into this great city from 140 countries on the promise of a first look at innovations that will revolutionize the way we live. Looking back, the VCR, camcorder, DVD player, CD player, and HD radio all debuted at CES. This year, we expect Las Vegas to be the site of the same level of game-changing innovations.

While we celebrate our industry's innovation, it is impossible to forget that the world's leading economies are struggling with the greatest financial downturn since the Great Depression.

These are trying times as our leaders grapple with tough decisions that affect our economic future and confidence in once-stable industries.

In the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo, we see technology companies, large and small, from around the world set up booths to display their latest innovations. And I am reminded what makes Las Vegas special to American culture. The city and its flashing lights give us hope and symbolize opportunity. The same is true for the bright lights of innovation.

The technology industry has the potential to pave the way to global economic recovery. The consumer electronics sector alone directly and indirectly generates $2.6 trillion in output, $836 billion in labor compensation and 15.4 million jobs in the United States. All told, that translates to a $1.3 trillion contribution to the U.S. gross domestic product -- or 10.4 percent of the entire national economy.

Our success over the past two decades has been possible because of global integration, free and open markets and rapid technological change. This has led to job creation throughout the world and modernized once-fledging economies. The process of global investment and trade has helped pull more than 400 million people out of poverty in just the past 15 years.

But back in Washington, rather than discussing ways to use trade and open markets to revitalize our world economies, policy makers have reverted back to the policies and the same way of thinking that cruelly intensified the Great Depression. Just as we saw after World War I, protectionism and isolationism are back in style. A pending trade agreement with Colombia, estimated to add $2.5 billion to the U.S. economy and eliminate tariffs on U.S. exports, has stalled in Congress -- just one representation of Washington's regressive frame of mind.

America's destiny is inextricably linked to the world's future. Our success is their success. When new industries blossom in emerging markets, they turn to the technological expertise of U.S. companies to help them achieve their goals. In the process of achieving prosperity, they demand political stabilization from their governments. Economic growth and global peace are part of the same cycle.

In the face of today's economic challenges, we must ensure that the world does not repeat the mistakes of its past. A return to protectionism threatens to unravel the progress the global economy has made in opening markets over the last half century.

These are the conversations that the technology industry will be leading this week here in Las Vegas. The lessons of history are clear, if we follow them. There is still time to course correct and help put the world on the path to economic growth and recovery.

We need a national strategy to promote broadband deployment to all Americans. We need to ensure companies that employ Americans are not forced by secret ballot unionization to eliminate market-based business plans that create jobs and benefit consumers. We need a national energy and recycling policy that helps the environment.

Americans want change. Their willingness to embrace change is reflected with each new investment in a new product or service -- whether it is a computer, a digital camera, a cell phone, the Internet, broadband, digital radio, digital television, a handheld device or a GPS. Or even a vote for President-elect Obama.

Our nation has elected its first truly digital president, and in his message of change we have a real opportunity to restore faith in our economy by embracing policies that promote our innovation economy. In the weeks leading up to President-elect Obama's inauguration, we hope that Washington is listening.

Gary Shapiro is the president and chief executive officer of the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade association representing more than 2,200 member companies that sponsors the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.