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Innovation Files: Where Tech Meets Public Policy
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Innovation Files: Where Tech Meets Public Policy

Author: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) — The Leading Think Tank for Science and Tech Policy

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Explore the intersection of technology, innovation, and public policy with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the world’s leading think tank for science and tech policy. Innovation Files serves up expert interviews, insights, and commentary on topics ranging from the broad economics of innovation to specific policy and regulatory questions about new technologies. Expect to hear some unconventional wisdom.
89 Episodes
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Amidst the burgeoning advancements in autonomous vehicles (AVs), striking a balance between expectation and reality emerges as a challenge. Rob and Jackie sat down with Richard Mudge, president and founder of Compass Transportation and Technology, to discuss how innovations in the world of AVs can affect safety, productivity, and job creation.MentionedMichigan.gov. “I-94 Connected & Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor Proposed Project,” Michigan Department of Transportation.RelatedAswin Prabhakar. “Logic, Not Emotions, Should Guide Autonomous Vehicle Deployment,” (Center for Data Innovation, December 2023).
While quantum computing technology is maturing more slowly than other innovations, its potential is vast. Rob and Jackie sat down with Murray Thom, vice president of product management at D-Wave, to discuss quantum computing applications already being put into place, and possible advancements in the future. MentionedHodan Omaar. “The U.S. Approach to Quantum Policy,” (Center for Data Innovation, October 2023). Congress.gov. "Text - H.R.6227 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): National Quantum Initiative Act," December 21, 2018.Related“Quantum Computing: The Case for a National Task Force,” (Center for Data Innovation, February 2022).Hodan Omaar. “What Should Congress Include in The Next National Quantum Initiative Act?,” (Center for Data Innovation, May 2023).
Used to its full potential, artificial intelligence (AI) can assist employees, improve interactions with customers, and increase efficiency. Rob and Jackie sat down with Nitin Mittal, a principal with Deloitte Consulting, to discuss how AI is being used to enhance work environments. Mentioned Thomas H. Davenport and Nitin Mittal. All-in On AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence, (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023).“State of AI in the Enterprise, 5th edition report,” (Deloitte United States, 2022).RelatedPatrick Grady and Daniel Castro, “Tech Panics, Generative AI, and the Need for Regulatory Caution,” (ITIF, May 2023).
Forced local data storage requirements are at the heart of both digital protectionism and digital authoritarianism. Rob and Jackie sat down with Nigel Cory, associate director covering trade policy at ITIF, to discuss how data localization reduces trade, slows productivity, and increases prices.RelatedNigel Cory, “How the G7 Can Use ‘Data Free Flow With Trust’ to Build Global Data Governance,” (ITIF, July 2023).Nigel Cory, “USTR Tai’s Justification to Take a Time-out on Digital Trade Does Not Hold Up,” (ITIF, Dec 2023).
To flourish, innovation hubs need the right combination of talent, tech, funding, and market access. Rob and Jackie sat down with Jessica Corrigan, the director of M&T's Tech Academy, to discuss how smaller regions can become powerful innovation ecosystems.MentionedRobert D. Atkinson, “Comments to the Commerce Department Regarding Implementation of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program,” (ITIF, March 2023).RelatedMatt Ashare, “At M&T Bank, modernization and talent strategies intersect in the cloud,” (CIO Dive, June 2023).Robert D. Atkinson, “Understanding the U.S. National Innovation System, 2020,” (ITIF, November 2023).
There is a troubling chasm between trade policy and competition policy. Rob and Jackie sat down with Alden Abbott, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, and Shanker Singham, one of the world's leading international trade and competition economists, to discuss how to bridge the gap between barriers at the border and conditions of competition inside the border.MentionedShanker Singham and Alden F. Abbott. Trade, Competition and Domestic Regulatory Policy, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2023).Stephen Ezell, “The Bayh-Dole Act’s Vital Importance to the U.S. Life-Sciences Innovation System,” (ITIF, March 2019).
China has had a dismissive attitude about its obligations as a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) ever since it joined the organization. Rob and Jackie sat down with Dennis Shea, executive director of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, to discuss how China’s current non-market economic system is simply incompatible with WTO norms. MentionedDennis Shea. China’s Trade-Disruptive Economic Model and the Implications for the WTO. (U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, 2018).2022 Report to Congress On China’s WTO Compliance. United States Trade Representative, February 2023.Robert D. Atkinson. How China’s Mercantilist Policies Have Undermined Global Innovation in the Telecom Equipment Industry. (ITIF, 2020).Stephen Ezell. False Promises II: The Continuing Gap Between China’s WTO Commitments and Its Practices. (ITIF, 2021).
Export controls exist at the perilous intersection of economic policy and national security. What could go wrong? Rob and Jackie sat down with Kevin Wolf, a partner at Akin Gump, to discuss how to strike the right balance between keeping certain advanced technologies away from adversarial militaries without locking U.S. firms out of global markets. RelatedRobert D. Atkinson, “Export Controls Shrink the Global Markets U.S. Semiconductors Need to Survive” (ITIF, July 2023). Stephen Ezell and Caleb Foote, “How Stringent Export Controls on Emerging Technologies Would Harm the U.S. Economy” (ITIF, May 2019). 
Policy regarding new technologies can be reactionary, confused, and focused on the wrong things. Rob and Jackie sat down with Patrick Grady, former policy analyst at ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation, to discuss what the European Union’s policymaking process can teach us about regulating emerging tech.Mentioned:Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence, (European Commission, April 2021).Related"Patrick Grady, “The AI Act Should Be Technology-Neutral” (Center for Data Innovation, February 2023).Ashley Johnson, “Restoring US Leadership on Digital Policy” (ITIF, July 2023).
 Counterfeiting—one of the oldest, simplest crimes—has only continued to evolve as technology has grown more complex.  Rob and Jackie sat down with Kebharu Smith, director of Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit and Associate General Counsel, to talk about how counterfeiting negatively impacts business, taxes, intellectual property, and innovation itself. MentionedBecca Trate and Daniel Castro. Best Practices to Combat Online Sale of Counterfeits in the EU and US, (ITIF, July 2022).RelatedSujai Shivakumar. How Data-Sharing Partnerships Can Thwart Counterfeits on Online Marketplaces, (March 2021). 
Over the past 150 years, humanity has generated an unprecedented amount and variety of information, surpassing the cumulative knowledge of previous eras.  Rob and Jackie sat down with Jim Cortada, a senior research fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to talk about how information shapes society.MentionedJim Cortada, Birth of Modern Facts: How the Information Revolution Transformed Academic Research, Governments, and Businesses, (Sandman Books, 2023). Sarah Lamdan, Data Cartels: The Companies That Control and Monopolize Our Information, (Stanford University Press, 2022).RelatedDavid Moschella, “We Shouldn’t Ask Technologists To Be Arbiters of ‘Truth’,” (ITIF, July 2023).
Looking ahead to the technological challenges and opportunities of the next decade, social trust will be more important than ever for the tech industry. Rob and Jackie sat down with David Moschella, a nonresident senior fellow at ITIF and the author of ITIF’s “Defending Digital” series, to discuss how a lack of societal trust harms the U.S. innovation system.MentionedDavid Moschella, “Digital Innovation Isn’t Undermining Societal Trust; It’s the Other Way Around” (ITIF, February 2023).RelatedDaniel Castro, “Groupthink Is To Blame for Recent TikTok Bans” (ITIF, February 2023).Patrick Grady and Daniel Castro, “Tech Panics, Generative AI, and the Need for Regulatory Caution” (Center for Data Innovation, May 2023).
A data-driven world raises the stakes for numeric literacy. Rob and Jackie sit down with George Sciadas, the former director of the Statistics Canada Center for Special Business Projects and author of the new book Number Savvy, to discuss the past, present, and future of data in society.MentionedGeorge Sciadas. Number Savvy: From the Invention of Numbers to the Future of Data, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2022). Kirk Goldsberry. Sprawlball: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA. (Mariner Books, 2019)
America can’t just pick up speed to beat China economically; it needs to slow down China, because there’s no use in accelerating when your adversary is along for the ride. Rob and Jackie sat down with Jonathan Ward, author of China’s Vision of Victory, to discuss where things stand in innovation and technology, and how the U.S. can maintain its position as the world’s largest and most sophisticated economy.MentionedJonathan Ward. The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China, (Diversion Books, 2023).Jonathan Ward. China’s Vision of Victory: A Guide to the Global Grand Strategy of the Chinese Government, (Atlas Organization, 2023).RelatedIan Clay and Robert D. Atkinson. Wake Up, America: China Is Overtaking the United States in Innovation Capacity, (ITIF, 2023)Stephen Ezell and Stefan Koester. Three Cheers for the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022! Now, Let’s Get Back to Work, (ITIF, 2022). 
To improve quality of life for as many people as possible, the places to start are cities. Rob and Jackie sat down with multiple award-winning technology and business leader Jonathan Reichental to discuss why the United States is falling behind other countries in the “smart city” movement and why it matters in a data-driven world.MentionedJonathan Reichental. Data Governance for Dummies.For Dummies, 2022.Jonathan Reichental. Smart Cities for Dummies.For Dummies, 2022.“New Urban Mechanics.” boston.gov, January 29, 2016. RelatedAshley Johnson, “Balancing Privacy and Innovation in Smart Cities and Communities” (ITIF, February 2022).Colin Cunliff, Ashley Johnson, and Hodan Omaar, “How Congress and the Biden Administration Could Jumpstart Smart Cities With AI” (ITIF, March 2021).
Google doesn’t create terrorist propaganda videos, doesn’t allow them on YouTube, and takes them down as fast as it can when extremist groups post them anyway. But a question now before the Supreme Court is whether Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects Google and other platform operators from liability if their algorithms end up spreading harmful content. To parse the potential ramifications, Rob and Jackie sat down with Senior Policy Analyst Ashley Johnson, one of ITIF’s resident experts on Internet policy issues such as privacy, security, and platform regulation.MentionedRobert D. Atkinson. “A Policymaker’s Guide to the ‘Techlash’—What It Is and Why It’s a Threat to Growth and Progress” (ITIF, October 2019).RelatedAshley Johnson, “If the Supreme Court Limits Section 230, It Will Change the Way the Internet Functions” (ITIF, February 2023).Ashley Johnson. “Section 230 Still Isn’t the Solution to Conservative Claims of Social Media Censorship” (ITIF, December 2022).
Semiconductors are arguably the most important core technology in the modern world. You can’t fully understand the current state of politics, economics, or technology until you consider the role they play. Rob and Jackie sat down with economic historian Chris Miller to discuss the extent to which microchips are the new oil. MentionedMiller, Chris. Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology. Simon & Schuster, 2022. Remarks by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the Special Competitive Studies Project Global Emerging Technologies Summit. The White House. The United States Government, September 16, 2022. RelatedRobert D. Atkinson. Computer Chips vs. Potato Chips: The Case for a U.S. Strategic-Industry Policy. (ITIF, January 2022).
Teaching students to combine basic ideas to solve novel, difficult problems is imperative to lay a foundation for STEM pursuits. Rob and Jackie sat down with Richard Rusczyk, founder of the Art of Problem Solving Initiative, coauthor of the original Art of Problem Solving books, and cofounder of the Mandelbrot Problem Solving Competition.MentionedAoPS and Beast Academy Math programs for Advanced Students. Art of Problem Solving. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2022.Robert D. Atkinson and Merrilea Mayo, “Refueling the U.S. Innovation Economy: Fresh Approaches to STEM Education” (ITIF, December 2010)
Economics is about more than the economy. It also intersects public and private institutions, culture, religion, morality, and politics. Rob and Jackie explored these subjects with Benjamin Friedman, a professor of Political Economy at Harvard and author of The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth and Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.Mentioned:Benjamin Friedman, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (Vintage: 2022).Benjamin Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth (Vintage: 2006).Robert D. Atkinson, “The Abandonment of Growth and the Decline of the West,” The Independent Review, Vol. 2, no. 2, Fall 2022.Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy (Macmillan: 2018)
Rob and Jackie sat down with Michael Mazarr, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, to discuss his report identifying characteristics that are associated with competitive advantage. They touch on how the U.S. is currently lacking most if not all of them, and potential steps moving forward. Mentioned:Michael J. Mazaar, The Societal Foundations of National Competitiveness, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2022.Michael J. Mazaar, The Sources of Societal Competitiveness: How Nations Actually Succeed in Long-Term Rivalries, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2022.Robert D. Atkinson and Jackie Whisman, “Investing in American Dynamism, With Ben Horowitz and Katherine Boyle,” Innovation Files podcast, April 4, 2022.Robert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind, “National Developmentalism: From Forgotten Tradition to New Consensus,” American Affairs, Volume III, Number 2 (Summer 2019).
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Comments (1)

Evan Parker

Robotics is indeed a rapidly evolving field with vast potential. As per maximising adoption, this largely relates to transferring the benefits and efficiencies of robotics into various sectors. Here, https://deusrobotics.com/technology/ could play a meaningful role. They already deploy robotics to enhance warehouse automation, improving efficiency and productivity. Their expertise could provide valuable insights on how to further drive the adoption of robotics in other spheres.

Oct 20th
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