Conference on California's Future in Sacramento Next Week

Photo: Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist, co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and one of the architects of the Internet.

The Conference on California's Future -- May 12-16 in Sacramento -- could have as its motto Alan Kay's statement: "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Kay, who keynoted the Government Technology Conference nearly 20 years ago, helped develop the technologies that have transformed life. This year, GTC will embrace not only information technology and its application, but where we are going -- and how we hope to get there.

Top state officials, policymakers, technology visionaries and executives will participate this year, including Governor Schwarzenegger, Wired Magazine's Editor in Chief Chris Anderson; Google's VP and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, State CIO Teri Takai, and Sun Microsystems Chairman and Co-Founder Scott McNealy.

In addition to the workshops, seminars and keynotes, topical pavilions -- on the future of Connected Government; Health and Human Services; Education; Green Technology and New Things for Better Living -- will give the conference a World's Fair flavor. And while World's Fairs don't often accurately predict the future, they certainly inspire the men and women who will create it.