Reports & Briefings

For brief overviews of how key technologies work and why they matter, see ITIF’s “Technology Explainer Series.”

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January 18, 2022
Anticorporate Broadband Populists’ Real Agenda: Destroy the Current Private-Sector System
Broadband populists have engaged in an aggressive campaign to disparage the performance of the U.S. broadband system, which is driven by intermodal competition between large ISPs, in order to build a case for government-owned and operated networks.
January 10, 2022
Mission Critical: The Global Energy Innovation System Is Not Thriving
Accelerating clean energy innovation is critical to avert the worst effects of climate change, but the global energy innovation system is in poor health, with weaknesses across most indicators. Nations must rectify these weaknesses to deliver on the promises world leaders made at COP26.
January 10, 2022
It’s Not Just Facebook—“Old Media” Spreads Misinformation, Too
“Defending Digital” Series, No. 1: Policymakers who want to assign blame for societal misinformation (and regulate social media) need to examine both new and old media—conservative and liberal alike. Focusing on one type of media or one particular company is unfair and unwarranted.
January 3, 2022
Computer Chips vs. Potato Chips: The Case for a U.S. Strategic-Industry Policy
With the rise of China, the United States needs more than a competitiveness strategy; it needs a policy specifically tailored to boost production and innovation capacity in strategically important industries—especially technologically sophisticated ones with dual-use capabilities.
December 16, 2021
Why Including Domestic Companies on USTR’s Notorious Markets List Undermines U.S. Trade Policy
Including U.S. firms on the official list that names and shames havens for piracy and counterfeiting would give the false impression that America has weak IP enforcement and undermine U.S. efforts to convince other countries to do more to address the problem.
December 13, 2021
Why America Needs a National Competitiveness Council
Congress is poised to expand funding for U.S. competitiveness. But a one-time infusion of resources is not enough: The federal government needs to formulate and implement a coherent advanced-industry competitiveness strategy.
December 6, 2021
Transcending Renewables’ Limits: Why Innovation Is Essential and How Federal Investments Can Unlock It
Renewables are far from being affordable, available, or reliable enough to meet growing demand for zero-carbon electricity. Scientists have developed promising solutions to these limitations, but it will require sustained, expanded federal investments to grow them to a transformative scale.
December 1, 2021
More Than Meets The AI: The Hidden Costs of a European Software Law
The EU’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) in its current form will touch upon a much wider section of the EU’s economy and society than the European Commission publicly states or likely even envisages.
November 29, 2021
Assessing the State of Digital Skills in the U.S. Economy
An increasingly digitalized global economy requires ever-more digitally skilled workforces for nations to remain productive. Unfortunately, domestic and international assessments of digital skills show the United States is lagging its competitors.
November 29, 2021
Improving Consumer Welfare With Data Portability
Data portability requirements should be carefully designed to avoid imposing unnecessary costs on organizations, exposing proprietary information, or undermining consumer privacy.

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