Obama Makes Tech Promises in State of the Union Address

President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union Address that providing students with access to technology is the key to succeeding in the 21st century economy.

Mr. Obama reminded viewers of his 2013 pledge to connect 99 percent of students to high-speed broadband before his presidency is over. He said this will begin by connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years using funding from the FCC, Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon, PC Mag noted.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that “in the Internet age, every student in America should have access to state-of-the-art educational tools, which are increasingly interactive, individualized and bandwidth-intensive.”

The President said with those tools and skills, the U.S. can be competitive in the race for high-tech manufacturing jobs. He plans to launch six new high-tech manufacturing hubs around the country, joining existing ones in Ohio, and North Carolina.

He urged Congress to increase research funding to support future discoveries, saying that federal funds helped lead to the ideas behind innovations such as Google and smartphones.