Experts outline tech's advantages Published in the Monday, April 6, 2009 Edition of By Steve Liu PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 2 next > In recent months, the business world has been more prominent in the public eye, as the world struggles to deal with the economic crisis. Friday, however, students were treated to a trio of leaders who exemplify Boston College's motto of "men and women for others" through the use of technology and management.

Tech for Good Day featured three leaders who were revolutionizing their respective fields. Bob Metcalfe invented Ethernet, the way which most of us connect to the Internet, and formulated Metcalfe's Law on telecommunications networks. He is currently a partner at Polaris Venture Partners, which invests in "enertech" or energy technology companies. Charles Kane is the president and chief operating officer of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a project started at MIT to bring cheap, low power laptops to children around the world. James Heywood, co-founder of PatientsLikeMe, an online community for patients and caregivers across 16 disease states to share their experiences.

Metcalfe's talk focused on clean tech and drew on his expertise of the Web industry to suggest possible solutions for the U.S.'s energy problems, which he dubbed the "enernet." Metcalfe said many of the resources for the development of these solutions are already in place. These resources include the collective intelligence of social networks and the Internet as a platform for smart energy grids.

Metcalfe said the clean energy movement needs to change its color from green to blue. Green is often times associated with anti-capitalism, anti-free trade, and anti-technology, which are exactly what the energy movement needs. Enertech can grow utilizing the venture capital and research infrastructure of the technology industry and learn from the Internet's mistakes. The government should fund research like it did for the Internet and break apart monopolies that stand in the way of innovation. "The best way to innovate in energy is through research professors, their graduating students, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists," Metcalfe said.

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