Pierre de Vries
Research Fellow
Economic Policy Research Center of the University of Washington
Pierre de Vries is a Research Fellow at the Economic Policy Research Center of the University of Washington, and a Senior Adjunct Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also a technology advisor to the Washington DC law firm of Harris Wiltshire & Grannis.
He researches and advises clients on the intersection of information technology and government policy. His current projects include regulatory paradigms for the internet/web, alternative conceptual models for wireless policy, spectrum allocation in the TV white spaces, and the impact of intangibility on decision-making in the digital world.
Dr. de Vries is a former Chief of Incubation and Senior Director of Advanced Technology & Policy at Microsoft Corporation, where his work included creating the company’s first integrated user experience design team, managing a portfolio of technology incubation projects for the Office of the CTO, supervising the founding and operation of the European Microsoft Innovation Centre, and framing the company’s world-wide “connected computing” technology policy agenda. He has worked in seed-stage venture capital and technology consulting, and holds a PhD in theoretical physics from Oxford.
Recent Events and Presentations
There is a Free Lunch – How Opening Up Unused ‘White Spaces’ on the Airwaves Will Drive Broadband Innovation
A discussion of the white space issue, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies can open up spectrum white spaces to unlicensed devices and thereby spur a new round of digital innovation.
