Arguments used to justify digital services taxes on large Internet companies are flawed. The United States should counter these proposals and work to restore international consensus around tax treatment for multinational companies.
Europe’s success in the global algorithmic economy requires a regulatory environment that is fit for AI but does not reduce consumer protections.
Policymakers can and should do more to support blockchain innovation and adoption, such as ensuring regulations are targeted and flexible, so as to encourage blockchain experimentation.
Countries with robust IP rights and protections must recognize that new energy, new tactics, and a new strategy are needed to encourage other nations to contribute more and detract less from global innovation.
A national “road user charge” system would ensure that everyone who drives on America’s roads contributes their fair share of the infrastructure costs.
Seven case studies showcase how IP rights are enabling innovators in Latin America to help solve some of the greatest global health challenges.
If China were only a copier, then the competitive threat to advanced economies would be limited. But there is no reason to believe China won’t follow the path of “Asian tigers” that rapidly evolved from copiers to innovators, which poses a serious threat.
Given that the economy has been in an unprecedented productivity growth slump—and the baby boom retirement wave is rising—taxing automation equipment ranks as a singularly bad policy idea.
The Trump administration has once again proposed massive cuts to energy RD&D. Lawmakers should not give this year’s budget proposal any greater credence than they have given the last two. Congress should instead continue down the path of elevating innovation in clean energy as a national priority.
The EU has an opportunity to make major strides in the next wave of digital transformation. But it will need to adopt a forward-looking policy perspective that focuses on the benefits of connectivity, automation, and smart systems for Europe’s economy and society.
NIH funding is critical to improving health outcomes and reducing the societal costs of illnesses. Congress should increase the NIH budget and then maintain regular, steady increases.
This provocative new book now available from The MIT Press shows small businesses are not the drivers of our prosperity. Big firms are better for job creation, productivity, innovation, and most other economic benefits. Governments should stop tipping the scales toward small and adopt “size neutral” policies that encourage companies of all sizes to grow.
Misusing the “march-in right” provision of the Bayh-Dole Act could negatively impact U.S. life-sciences innovation and result in fewer new drugs.
Clean energy can support state and local economic development. Leaders can follow five tracks to leverage clean energy to accelerate economic growth.
With nearly three dozen new additions, the updated “Tech Policy To-Do List” now provides a menu of more than 150 actionable ideas for Congress and the administration to foster innovation, growth, and progress.
Focusing on mitigating speculative concerns about AI will limit its development and adoption. Policymakers should instead encourage innovation while crafting targeted solutions for specific problems if they occur.
Congress should repeal and replace existing federal privacy laws with a common set of protections. We need comprehensive data privacy legislation that preempts state laws, improves transparency requirements, strengthens enforcement, and establishes a clear set of data privacy rights for Americans based on the sensitivity of the data and the context in which it is collected.
The next wave of digital innovation is coming. Countries can welcome it, prepare for it, and ride it to new heights of innovation and prosperity, or they can ignore the changing tide and miss the wave.
Southeast Asian nations significantly outperform the rest of the world in wage-controlled robot adoption, while Europe and the United States lag significantly behind.
5G, AI, IoT, and more: In a reader-friendly series of two-pagers, ITIF provides overviews of important technologies that are likely to have a profound impact on the global economy and modern society.
Twenty-five case studies underscore how innovators in developing countries—often enabled by robust IP rights—are achieving advances in life sciences and healthcare that benefit people around the world.
Productivity is the key to improving living standards—so policymakers should ignore conventional economists who say there is little government can do about it and instead make it the principal goal of economic policy.
America’s innovation-driven, high-tech economy isn’t concentrated around a few hubs like Silicon Valley; it is widely diffused—and every state and congressional district has a stake in its success.