Anne M. Mulcahy, the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Xerox Corporation led a list of luminaries that attended AeA's Annual High Tech Government dinner on June 8, 2005. Hosted by the AeA Board of Directors, more than 500 people attended the dinner including numerous Chief Information Officers and procurement officials from over 25 different Federal agencies, officials and leadership from the Administration and Congress, and dozens of CEO's representing high-tech companies.

Ms. Mulcahy provided the keynote address at the dinner, which has become a premier event featuring leaders from both the public and private sectors. Mulcahy spoke on the importance of research and development (R&D) for Xerox, specifically how two-thirds of the company's revenues come from products designed in the past two years, and how investments in R&D and math and science education initiatives by the federal government are critical to the United States' competitiveness in the global marketplace.

"America itself is failing to invest in our own future and to nurture our own technological infrastructure -- the very infrastructure that has propelled us to world economic leadership," said Mulcahy. "If we won't start to address the issue now, we run the very real risk of losing our world leadership. And no one sector can fix the problem alone. It's the shared responsibility of business, government, and education."

Mulcahy discussed solutions, including lowering the barriers for the immigration of highly skilled workers, championing dramatic increases in federal funding of research, and dramatically improving math, science, and engineering education in the United States.

She also spoke on Xerox's efforts to increase the number of minorities and women entering the technology industry. "Bringing more women and minorities into the world of science and engineering, is not only the right thing to do, it must be an essential part of any national strategy to remain competitive and continue to lead the world in innovation."

A reception was held prior to the dinner, where AeA members met with leading officials of the Federal government and Congress, including General Steven Boutelle, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Dept. of the Army; Scott Charbo, Chief Information Officer, Dept. of Agriculture; Scott Hasting, Chief Information Officer, Dept. of Homeland Security, U.S. Visit; and Bruce James, The Public Printer, U.S. Government Printing Office. Earlier in the day, the AeA Board of Directors held 25 lobby visits with several key members of Congress to discuss immigration and workforce issues, the R&D tax credit, CAFTA, and the overlying issue of U.S. competitiveness in a global economy.

AeA would like to thank those companies who sponsored the event, including Gold Sponsor Xerox; Silver Sponsors Adobe, Akamai, Cisco, DRS Technologies, Federal ComputerWeek, Intuit, Lenovo / IBM, Marsh, and SafeNet; and Dinner Patrons Aetna, Ciena and FSI (Federal Sources, Inc.). AeA thanks these companies for their generous support in making the event a success.

Founded in 1943, AeA has grown into the nation's largest trade association representing the high-tech industry, with more than 2,500 members and 19 offices, including offices in Beijing and Brussels.

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