UPDATED 23:04 EDT / JUNE 22 2017

EMERGING TECH

Trump asks tech leaders to ‘dream big,’ execs ask him to cut regulations

President Donald Trump met with tech executives again on Thursday as part of Tech Week at the White House, this time to discuss drone regulations and 5G communications infrastructure.

Following Tuesday’s meeting with execs, which was centered around the government’s technological infrastructure, Thursday’s meeting on “American Leadership in Emerging Technology” was focused more on what the government could do to bolster private sector growth.

“We want our innovators to dream big, like the folks around me and surrounding me in this room,” Trump said in his opening statement. “And we want them to create new companies and to create lots of jobs.” Echoing Republicans’ longtime agenda, Trump said the government has hampered those dreams becoming a reality because of “wasteful, intrusive and job-killing regulations.”

Attending the meeting was a long list of drone company heads, including AirMap Inc. Chief Executive Ben Marcus, Airspace Inc. CEO Jaz Banga, PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen and Kespry Inc. CEO George Mathew. Also in attendance at the East Room was a handful of venture capitalists.

The drone execs spoke with regulators from the Federal Aviation Administration before their talk with the president. They discussed the challenges of tracking and identifying drones and maintaining safety while giving companies more freedom to operate.

Telecoms executives were also in attendance, including AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson, Verizon Communications Inc.’s president John Stratton, Sprint Corp. CEO Marcelo Claure and T-Mobile USA Inc. Chief Operating Officer Mike Sievert.

Deregulation was again the topic of discussion around 5G wireless networks and how it will power an increasingly connected America. The issue of net neutrality, something that has gained worldwide attention, was not discussed.

However, the telecom execs echoed something Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote in a blog post this week. He said that if the U.S. is to lead the world in 5G technology, the government needs to “modernize our regulations so that infrastructure can be deployed promptly and at scale.”

The execs. not surprisingly, were unanimous in saying that the future of American 5G technology and how it will power the growing Internet of Things rests on less encumbering regulations. According to reports, Trump responded by saying he would write a “strong letter” to state and federal regulators.

Image: The White House/YouTube

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU