Innovation Files: Where Tech Meets Public Policy

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). 

Jonathan Reichental, a technology and business leader in the smart city movement, discusses the challenges and opportunities in developing smart city apps, the importance of collaboration and data sharing, and the role of data in government and business growth.

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).