Reports & Briefings

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

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April 27, 2021
Why the United States Needs to Support Near-Term Quantum Computing Applications
As other nations rapidly scale up their investments to develop and use quantum computing, U.S. policymakers should ensure the United States remains a leader. Investing in near-term applications would bolster the development of longer-term use cases, thereby helping to cement U.S. economic competitiveness and protect national security.
April 26, 2021
Heading Off Track: The Impact of China’s Mercantilist Policies on Global High-Speed Rail Innovation
Chinese high-speed rail firm CRRC is less innovative than European and Japanese firms, but mercantilist policies help it dominate in China and expand globally. This starves superior firms of revenue, reduces their R&D, and slows the pace of global innovation.
April 19, 2021
Seizing the Transformative Opportunity of Multi-cancer Early Detection
Blood-based multi-cancer early detection (MCED) technologies hold the promise to revolutionize America’s cancer-screening paradigm, dramatically expanding the range of detectable cancers and identifying them at earlier stages when cancers are more treatable. Policymakers should provide a supportive regulatory and coverage environment.
April 12, 2021
U.S. University R&D Funding Falls Further Behind OECD Peers
The United States continues its relative fall in university research and development funding. To become the leader among OECD nations in government funding for university research as a share of GDP, investment would have to increase by $90 billion per year.
April 12, 2021
India Is an Essential Counterweight to China—and the Next Great U.S. Dependency
As America seeks to counter a rising China, no nation is more important than India, with its vast size, abundance of highly skilled technical professionals, and strong political and cultural ties with the United States. But the parallels between America’s dependency on China for manufacturing and its dependency on India for IT services are striking.
April 12, 2021
Next Steps for Ensuring America’s Advanced Technology Preeminence
As technology and industry strategy experts, we commend Congress and the Biden administration for focusing on ensuring U.S. advanced technology competitiveness. Toward that end, we offer a number of recommendations for further action.
April 7, 2021
Federal Policy to Accelerate Innovation in Long-Duration Energy Storage: The Case for Flow Batteries
Affordable long-duration energy storage will be needed to decarbonize the U.S. energy system. Flow batteries are promising, but for that promise to be realized, DOE must invest heavily and more effectively in research, development, testing, and demonstration.
April 5, 2021
Small Business Boards: A Proposal to Raise Productivity and Wages in All 50 States and the District of Columbia
Low profit margins keep many small businesses from investing in productivity-enhancing technology, which in turn holds down wages. To break that cycle, there should be a federal program that helps them reap economies of scale and scope by collaborating in areas such as R&D, investment, marketing, and health insurance purchases.
March 31, 2021
How the Biden Administration Can Accelerate Prosperity by Fixing Agricultural-Biotech Regulations
The Biden administration has a rare opportunity to accelerate agricultural innovation and spur broad and lasting economic growth by taking a handful of discrete regulatory actions that would update longstanding policy that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support.
March 30, 2021
The Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion, Chapter 12: General Government Services
The Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion is the product of a collaboration commissioned by the National Urban League. ITIF contributed analysis and recommendations to make government more effective in using digital tools to deliver public services to low-income and communities of color.

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