赵小兰：上海世博再次展示中国的现代化成就

赵小兰：上海世博再次展示中国的现代化成就

   星岛环球网消息：美国第24任劳工部长赵小兰16日在宁波举行的上海世博会第一场主题论坛 “信息化与城市发展”的闭幕会上发言，赵小兰表示，自己从美国专程赶来参加这个会议，回到这个飞速发展，充满活力的地区十分兴奋，“上海对我而言，有着特殊的感情，它是我的父亲赵锡成博士的祖籍地。”她认为，上海世博会传承2008年的北京奥运会再次展示中国非凡的现代化成就和宝贵的文化遗产。>>赵小兰发言全文 中文版 英文版 

    赵小兰在发言中提到，上海世博会相当壮观，这是第一次以“城市”为主题的世界博览会，也是历史上国际参与人数最多的一次世界博览会。荣誉归功于建造这些令人难忘、神迷又别具一格的展馆和展示的2010年上海世界博览会国家组织委员会，总务专员，执行委员会，上海世博会事务协调局，赞助商，设计师，全体员工及与会者。

    赵小兰回顾说：“2008年的夏天，我有幸带领美国代表团参加了北京奥运会的闭幕式，那时一个现代的中国吸引了世界的目光。”她指出：“今年的上海世博会传承2008年的北京奥运会再次展示中国非凡的现代化成就和宝贵的文化遗产。上海的快速发展，超前城市景象为本届论坛讨论信息化对城市发展的影响提供了最佳的场景。”

    此外，赵小兰还在发言中指出，进入21世纪的10年中，当前的科学实践已超出了20世纪的科幻小说。由于信息技术的惊人飞跃，给人类的生活、工作和社会都带来了深刻的影响，而最能展示技术革命的地方就是世界上的大都会城市。

    她并提到，当今全球经济日益一体化，各国的竞争力将越来越取决于一个灵活，快速适应变化的高技能劳动力。这对政府、私营企业和教育机构提出新的要求，特别是高等教育，将必须变得更加灵活，容易获得，适应性强，以确保培养足够的人才来促进国家的发展。这对人才也提出新的要求，因为他们需要了解，要取得成功必须致力于终身学习，不断提高自己的技能。她预言，未来很大的需求将是工程师——包括航空航天，生物医学，土木，计算机软件和环境工程师，还需要纳米技术，地理空间技术，生命科学等等高技能人才。这项工作大部分将在数十年以前甚至不存在的行业中增长。

赵小兰女士 --- 第二十四任美国劳工部长（2001-2009）
中国2010年上海世博会
“信息化与城市发展” 论坛发言
中国宁波
2010年5月16日（星期日）

    非常感谢您的热烈欢迎。我很高兴能在宁波举行的上海世博会第一场主题论坛 “信息化与城市发展”的闭幕会上发言。我从美国专程赶来参加这个会议，虽已接近尾声，但令人印象深刻。回到这个飞速发展，充满活力的地区，实在让人兴奋。上海对我而言，有着特殊的感情，它是我的父亲赵锡成博士的祖籍地。
 
    上海世博会相当壮观！它的主题是：“城市，让生活更美好。” 这是第一次以“城市”为主题的世界博览会，本届世博会是历史上国际参与人数最多的一次世界博览会。
 
    在接下来的两天，与会者将有机会实地参观上海世博园区极富创意，结构惊人，展望未来，缤纷多姿的建筑和展馆。
  
    荣誉归功于建造这样一个个令人难忘、神迷又别具一格的展馆和展示的2010年上海世界博览会国家组织委员会，总务专员，执行委员会，上海世博会事务协调局，赞助商，设计师，全体员工及与会者。
  
    2008年的夏天，我有幸带领美国代表团参加了北京奥运会的闭幕式，那时一个现代的中国吸引了世界的目光。今年的上海世博会传承2008年的北京奥运会再次展示中国非凡的现代化成就和宝贵的文化遗产。上海的快速发展，超前城市景象为本届论坛讨论信息化对城市发展的影响提供了最佳的场景。
  
    就在进入21世纪的10年中，当前的科学实践已超出了20世纪的科幻小说。由于信息技术的惊人飞跃，给我们的生活、工作和社会都带来了深刻的影响，而最能展示技术革命的地方就是世界上的大都会城市。
 
    随着今天的微型手机问世，一个人可以通过手机拍摄和发送照片，由全球卫星定位找到个人当前处于地球上的具体位置详细图，看书，上网，购物以及从事上千种业务。这在25年前，当第一部有砖块那么大，只能打电话的手机出现时，是多么难以置信。

    当人类在1969年第一次登上月球时，今天最便宜的笔记本电脑对除了一些有远见卓识者以外的所有的人而言都是深奥而难以想像的。 顺便提一下，把宇航员送上月球的宇宙飞船阿波罗11 号的计算处理能力比今天的手机还小。
  
    当然，手机只是一个利用快速增长的因特网，有效产生、使用及处理大量信息的装置。世界上大约有20亿的因特网用户，亚洲约占40％，其中只有20％的人使用互联网。约14％的互联网用户在北美---其中76％的用户已经在使用互联网。目前有超过2.26亿家网站--- 是过去10年的10倍。

    全球总体信息量可望在未来的10年增长44倍。数据增长速度如此之快，本月信息量正以泽它字节来储存。泽它字节使拍它字节相形见绌，等于10亿太字节。如果这个说明不够清楚，太字节就象是用铅笔来计算长除法，而泽它字节就是用超级计算机来计算--- 不过我承认我有时也仍是用铅笔的。

    网络时代仍处于起步阶段，但它已经改变了我们的生活和工作方式。
  
    传输所有这些数据需要大量的基础设施，而在人口密度稠密的大城市修建基础设施的费用相对于农村地区就大有优势。然而，对一个为维持适当的传统城市基础设施如交通，污水和供水已经有困难的城市，这些费用无疑是相当大且具挑战性的。但这是一个为成功推动城市经济健康持续发展必须解决的问题。
  
    城市规划者和政府及商界领袖都应该意识到，在互联网时代有竞争力，必备的基础设施，不仅包括电缆，蜂窝塔和其它硬件，还包括地区劳动力的重要性！
  
    到位的光纤线路在推动城市经济，与一个可以利用基础设施的高度熟练的劳动力同样至关重要。是劳动力为社会实现无限增长潜力的知识型经济。

    因此，城市规划者必须以高度的警觉来维护基础设施以满足日益增大的数据容量和不断提高的数据传输速度的需求，也同样应该关注对高新技能的劳动力的需求。
 
    当今全球经济日益一体化，各国的竞争力将越来越取决于一个灵活，快速适应变化的高技能劳动力。 这对政府、私营企业和教育机构提出新的要求，特别是高等教育，将必须变得更加灵活，容易获得，适应性强，以确保培养足够的人才来促进国家的发展。这对人才也提出新的要求，他们需要了解，要取得成功必须致力于终身学习，不断提高自己的技能。
  
    作为历史上第一位被任命为美国总统内阁成员的亚裔妇女，我任劳工部长时的工作重点就是对失业工人提高就业培训。我的目标是减少政府资助的职业培训制度的官僚作风，更前瞻性和有效地为这些劳动力谋求利益，最终使我们整个经济受益。然而我做的还不够，仍有许多工作要做。
  
    也许各国领导人都会一致认同，官僚作风往往是难以改变的。而这也是不能仅依靠政府带头来吸引和发展有技能的劳动力的一个重要原因。措施之一就是通过一个综合性和区域性办法把为他们地区经济繁荣培养高技能人才有着共同兴趣的地方政府、商界、学术机构和非赢利性组织召集起来。
  
    在美国，知识型经济的过渡已持续了一段时间。  在未来10年，据估计，近三分之二的净新增就业将需要更高的职业技能，更高的教育程度或有效的在职培训。从2001年至2007年，高薪职业增长速度比低技能、低报酬的职业增长近3倍。
  
    尽管美国经济在过去几年遭受高失业率，有前瞻性的领导人都知道，我们的经济未来几年将面临着填补上百万需要高技能劳动力职位的困境。即使在过去两年，八百万美国人失业，雇主们却说到，有些需要填补高技能职位的申请人仍然缺乏。而且，这种“技能差距”是可悲的。
  
    未来很大的需求将是工程师--- 包括航空航天，生物医学，土木，计算机软件和环境工程师。我们的经济还需要纳米技术，地理空间技术，生命科学等等高技能人才。这项工作大部分将在数十年以前甚至不存在的行业中增长。
  
    加强数学和科学教育对美国极为重要。正是这些工作带动创新，创造数以百万计的额外就业机会。
在未来快速增长的经济中，没有任何一个职业发展和极少数的工作不需要高等教育和高级技能。不久以前，大厦维修被认为是低技能的职业。但在一个现代化的建筑里，从电梯到环境控制系统一切都由电脑操纵。保障运作顺畅，必须要由技术熟练的员工担任这些工作。
  
    所以，当我们看到这些奇妙的新设备在我们无法看见的数据传输网络中用惊人的速度传输时，重要的是要越来越意识到高技能人才所构思，设计和建造的这一切，需要维护和进一步优化。我们可以想象一切可以通过计算机处理能够实现的业务，如没有高技能员工的熟练操作，实际应用及优化，世界上所有的硬件和软件就毫无价值可言。
 
    一辆无人驾驶的高速汽车只能是一个静止的金属盒。如果没有一个高技能的人才驾驭它，信息技术也只是一堆硬件和软件。
  
    40年前，比你口袋或提包里手机还小的电脑系统指导了三名宇航员第一次登上月球。试想一下，整个城市中的高技能劳动力运用信手拈来的最先进信息技术所能创造出来的奇迹。

Remarks by The Honorable Elaine L. Chao
24th U. S. Secretary of Labor (2001-2009)
World Expo 2010 Shanghai China
Information and Communication Technologies and Urban Development
Ningbo, China
Sunday, May 16, 2010

    Thank you very much for that very warm welcome.  It is a great pleasure to be the keynote speaker to wrap up the closing session of the First Theme Forum of the Shanghai Expo on Information and Communications Technologies and Urban Development held in Ningbo.
I had flown directly from the United States to catch the tail-end of this impressive Conference.  It is wonderful to be back in this extraordinarily dynamic and growing region.  Being back in Shanghai area also has special resonance for me as Shanghai is the ancestral home of my father, Dr. James S. C. Chao, and family.        

    The Shanghai Expo is truly spectacular!  Its theme is:  “Better City, Better Life.”  It is the first World Expo with a “city” theme.  Shanghai Expo has the largest number of international participants in the history of World Expo’s. 

    In the next two days, the attendees will have the opportunity to physically tour the site of Shanghai Expo and view the spectacular display of buildings, pavilions that are stunning in their creativity, structure, and futuristic vision. 

    Kudos to the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition National Organizing Committee, Commissioner General, Executive Committee, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, sponsors, designers, all the workers, and participants in the Shanghai Expo for creating such an unforgettable, fascinating, and unique display of pavilions and exhibits. 

    In the summer of 2008, I was privileged to participate as the official leader of the U. S. Delegation to the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics when the world was mesmerized by the sight of a modern China.  This year’s Shanghai Expo emulates the legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Like the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo showcases yet another area of China's remarkable modern achievements and tremendous cultural legacy.  Shanghai's fast-evolving, futuristic skyline is a perfect backdrop for this Forum’s discussion on information and communication technologies and their impact on urban development. 

    Just a decade into the 21st century, science fact now exceeds 20th century science fiction, thanks to   astounding leaps in communication and information technology that are having a profound affect on our lives, our societies, and our workplaces.  Nowhere is this technological revolution more on display than in the world's metropolitan urban areas.      

    With today's tiny cell phones, a person can shoot and send photos, pull up his or her location on detailed maps that access global positioning satellites orbiting the Earth, read books, surf the Internet, shop and do a thousand other things that were unimaginable 25 years ago when the first cell phones were as big as the size of a brick and did nothing but calls. 

    Today's cheapest laptop computer was unfathomable to all but a few visionaries when the first men landed on the moon in 1969.  By the way, the spaceship that took the astronauts to the moon – Apollo 11 – had less computing processing power than a cell phone does today.

    Cell phones are, of course, just one device harnessing the fast-growing power of the Internet and enabling creation, consumption and processing of vast amounts of information.  There are about 2 billion Internet users around the world, 40% of those are in Asia, where just 20% use the Internet.  About 14% of the world's Internet users are in North America – where 76% of the population are already using the Internet.   There are now over 226 million websites – a ten-fold increase in the past decade.

    The digital universe is expected to expand by a factor of forty-four over the next decade.  It is expanding so fast that as of this month the volume of information is being described in Zettabytes.  The Zettabyte eclipses the Petabyte and equals one billion Terabytes.  If that’s not illuminating, let’s just say it is a quadrillion light-years beyond doing long-division with a pencil -- which I confess I still do on occasion.

    The Internet Age is still in its infancy and yet it already has transformed the way we live and work. 

    Moving all this data requires extensive physical infrastructure, and in this cities have an advantage over rural areas as those infrastructure costs are most efficient in population-dense locations.  These costs are nevertheless considerable and can be a challenge for cities already struggling to maintain adequate traditional urban infrastructure such as transportation, sewers and water supply.  But it is one that must be successfully addressed for a city's economic health going forward.     

    It is extremely important that urban planners and government and business leaders be aware that the necessary infrastructure to compete in the Internet Age does not just consist of cables, cellular towers and other hardware.  It also consists of an area's workforce. 

    Just as vital as fiber optic lines in an economically advancing city is the presence of a highly skilled workforce that can make the infrastructure happen and take advantage of it once it is in place.  It is the workforce who will realize for society the unlimited potential of increasingly knowledge-based economies.  

    So while urban planners have to be constantly vigilant in maintaining the physical infrastructure required to transmit ever-greater amounts of data and ever-higher speeds, there should be at least as much attention paid to the need for a workforce that is highly skilled and constantly updating with improved skills.

    In today's worldwide and increasingly integrated economy, the competitiveness of nations will increasingly hinge on a highly skilled workforce that is flexible and can react swiftly to change. This places new demands on institutions -- government, private industry and education.  Higher education, in particular, will have to become even more flexible, accessible and adaptable to ensure workforce sufficient to lead nations forward.  And this places new demands on workers, who need to understand that to succeed in the future, they have to commit themselves to lifelong learning and continually upgrading their own skills.

    As the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President’s cabinet in U. S. history, my focus as U. S. Secretary of Labor was on improving job training to unemployed and dislocated workers.  My goals were to make the publicly funded job training system less bureaucratic, more forward looking and effective for the benefit of these workers and ultimately our entire economy.  There remains much to do. 

    Probably one thing leaders in every nation can agree upon is that bureaucracies tend to be resistant to change.  And that's one reason it is important to not just rely upon the government to take the lead in attracting and developing a skilled workforce.  One of our initiatives was a comprehensive, regional approach bringing together local government, businesspeople, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations  – who share a common interest in cultivating a skilled workforce in their economic region.   

    In the U.S., the transition to a knowledge-based economy has been going on for sometime. In the next decade, it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of the net new jobs created will be in occupations that require higher skills, higher education or significant on-the-job training.  From 2001 to 2007, the number of jobs in high-paying occupations grew at a rate almost three times that of less-skilled, lower-paying occupations.

    While the U.S. economy has suffered higher unemployment in the past couple of years, forward looking leaders know that our economy will struggle in the years ahead to fill millions of job openings requiring highly-skilled workers.  And even in the past two years, during which eight million Americans have lost their jobs, employers say that some positions requiring high skills remain unfilled for lack of qualified applicants.   And, this “skills gap” is a tragedy. 

    In great demand in the future will be engineers -- including aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer software, and environmental engineers.  Our economy will also need highly-skilled workers in nanotechnology, geospatial technology, and the life sciences, to name a few.  Much of this job growth will occur in industries that did not even exist a few decades ago.  

    Strengthening math and science education is critically important in the U. S.  It is these jobs that drive innovation and, in turn, create millions of additional jobs.  

    There is no career track and few jobs in fast-growing economies in the future that won't require a high level of education and skills.  Once upon a time not too long ago, building maintenance was considered a low-skilled occupation.  But in a modern building, everything runs on computers – from the elevators to environmental control systems and the people who keep it all functioning smoothly have got to be technologically proficient to do these jobs. 

    So as we behold these wondrous new devices streaming content at breathtaking speed over data transmission networks we cannot see, it’s important to be ever-mindful that highly-skilled workers conceived, designed and built it all and are needed to maintain and advance it further.  As we imagine all that can be accomplished with the computer processing power that is available in businesses, all the hardware and software in the world is worthless without the highly-skilled workers to manipulate it and foresee and optimize its practical applications. 

    A fast car without a driver is just a metal box sitting still.  Communication and information technology is just a pile of hardware and software if there is not a highly-skilled workforce driving it.

    40 years ago, less computer power than is in the phone in your pocket or purse, guided the first three astronauts to the moon.  Imagine what a highly skilled workforce in an entire city could do with the latest communications and information technology capability at their fingertips.