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Center for Data Innovation

Center for Data Innovation

ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation formulates and promotes pragmatic public policies designed to maximize the benefits of data-driven innovation in the public and private sectors. It educates policymakers and the public about the opportunities and challenges associated with data, as well as technology trends such as open data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. For more, get the Center’s weekly emails and visit datainnovation.org.

Featured Publications

Picking the Right Policy Solutions for AI Concerns

Picking the Right Policy Solutions for AI Concerns

Some concerns are legitimate, but others are not. Some require immediate regulatory responses, but many do not. And a few require regulations addressing AI specifically, but most do not.

Five Concerns About AI Data Centers, and What to Do About Them

Five Concerns About AI Data Centers, and What to Do About Them

If the policy framework is right, AI infrastructure can strengthen the electricity grid rather than strain it, stabilize prices rather than inflate them, and transform heat and flexible demand into system assets.

How Rules for Publicly Available Data Are Shaping the Future of AI

How Rules for Publicly Available Data Are Shaping the Future of AI

To protect individuals while preserving the open information ecosystem that supports innovation, policymakers should focus on outputs rather than training inputs, encourage transparency norms for autonomous AI agents, and create a safe harbor for responsible use of publicly available data.

Public Sector AI Adoption Index

Public Sector AI Adoption Index

Governments are entering a critical phase in the adoption of AI. It is already contributing to everyday public sector work, and the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to do so both effectively and responsibly. The Public Sector AI Adoption Index 2026 focuses on the human side of AI adoption, examining how it is experienced by public servants every day.

How the Brussels Effect Hinders Innovation in the Global South

How the Brussels Effect Hinders Innovation in the Global South

Mandatory adoption of EU-style digital rules amounts to regulatory imperialism for many countries in the Global South. It limits technology adoption, raises compliance costs, and undermines the ability of local firms to compete with Western ones.

How Data-Rich Workplaces Can Improve Worker Safety, Health, and Experience

How Data-Rich Workplaces Can Improve Worker Safety, Health, and Experience

A productive approach to emerging workplace technologies would focus on two overarching goals: 1) accelerating development, testing, and adoption, and 2) supporting positive uses of the technology while mitigating negative ones.

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Events

January 20, 2026

Advancing Multilateral AI Partnerships: A Pre-Summit Event for 2026 AI Impact Summit

Ahead of the 2026 AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, the Center for Data Innovation and The Dialogue are convening an official pre-summit event, sponsored by Google, in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2026.

November 20, 2025

Improving Workplaces With Data and Technology

Watch now for a panel discussion on how data and technology can create safer, healthier, and more productive workplaces, and the policies needed to encourage adoption while protecting workers.

September 16, 2025

What It Will Take to Bring the Global South into the US AI Alliance

Watch ITIF's Center for Data Innovation discussion on how the United States can build a durable AI alliance that creates strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial and contains China’s growing technological influence in the Global South.

May 13, 2025

How Americans Feel About AI—and Why It Matters for Policy

Watch now for a timely discussion by ITIF's Center for Data Innovation and Public First surrounding new polling data exploring how U.S. public sentiment toward AI is evolving. The conversation unpacks where Americans see promise or peril, how their views have shifted over the past year, and what these perspectives mean for lawmakers, business leaders, and the future of AI policy.

April 17, 2025

Is U.S. Policy Ready for Agentic AI?

Watch now for a panel discussion by ITIF's Center for Data Innovation on what the rise of agentic AI means for innovation, competition, and policy, how prepared the United States is to keep pace, and what policy shifts might be needed to ensure consumers and businesses can successfully develop and deploy AI agents.

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Daniel Castro
Daniel Castro

Vice President and Director, Center for Data Innovation

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

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Eli Clemens
Eli Clemens

Senior Policy Analyst

Center for Data Innovation

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Matthew Kilcoyne
Matthew Kilcoyne

Policy Analyst

Center for Data Innovation

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More From the Center

April 2, 2026|Blogs

“Made in USA” Claims Need Better Data, Not More Liability

While false “Made in USA” claims are a real problem, the solution is not holding online marketplaces liable but strengthening data infrastructure and verification systems that enable regulators, consumers, and AI tools to more effectively identify and enforce legitimate claims.

March 30, 2026|Blogs

States Should Learn from China on Sidewalk Delivery Robots

China has surged ahead of the United States in adopting sidewalk delivery robots due to more proactive and coordinated policy experimentation, offering lessons for U.S. policymakers on how real-world pilots and clearer regulatory frameworks can accelerate deployment of autonomous delivery technology.

March 23, 2026|Blogs

Agentic Commerce Is Coming, but Regulation Meant for Humans Will Slow It Down

Agentic commerce—where AI agents autonomously shop and transact on users’ behalf—could deliver major efficiency gains, but outdated regulations and unresolved legal questions risk slowing adoption unless policymakers update rules built for human-driven transactions.

March 10, 2026|Testimonies & Filings

Letter in Opposition to Maryland Senate Bill 889

Center for Data Innovation Director Daniel Castro sent a letter to Maryland Senate Finance Committee Chair Pamela G. Beidle, Vice Chair Antonio L. Hayes, and members of the committee in opposition to Senate Bill 889.

March 4, 2026|Blogs

The European Parliament Should Manage Built-In AI, Not Disable It

The European Parliament has disabled built-in AI features on corporate tablets and phones issued to MEPs and staff over concerns that data sent to cloud services by these features presented a security risk. This decision is misguided because it does not address security risks, drives AI use into the shadows, disrupts everyday productivity tools, and imposes disproportionate costs on the Parliament’s smaller delegations.

February 26, 2026|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles

Why Congress Should Step Into the Anthropic-Pentagon Dispute

In Tech Policy Press, Daniel Castro argues that a dispute between the U.S. Department of Defense and Anthropic over military AI use underscores the need for Congress—not executive pressure or private contracts—to set clear statutory guardrails for deploying AI in national defense.

February 19, 2026|Blogs

The Grid Act Is the Wrong Way to Protect Consumers from Price Spikes

The GRID Act misdiagnoses the problem of rising electricity costs by treating data centers as inherently extractive and imposing punitive requirements, rather than addressing flawed market design. A better approach is a flexibility-first model that rewards adjustable AI demand, allowing data centers to support grid stability while protecting households from price spikes.

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