Outgoing presidential IT advisors offer Trump 10 tips to succeed

There'll be a to-do list from the IT department in the president's "in" tray when Donald Trump enters the White House later this month. In a cabinet exit memo published Thursday, the Office of Science and Technology Director John P Holdren and U.S. CTO Megan Smith review President Barack Obama's technology achievements, and set 10 technology priorities for his successor. At the top of Holdren's and Smith's list is to invest in fundamental research, and to publish the results. Such work may one day lead to profitable products, but the pay-off is too far in the future to motivate most businesses to contribute -- and were they to do so, they would probably keep the results to themselves. Building a team of scientists and technologists to lead the government's activities is next.