The term ‘supply chain’ is relatively new, but the activities involved are not as new as we think. Rob and Jackie sat down with Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, to discuss the complex history of supply chains and how technology and AI will continue to evolve supply chain processes in the future.

• Yossi Sheffi. The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, A.I., and the Future of Work, (MIT CTL Media, 2023).

• Stephen Ezell and Stefan Koester, “Transforming Global Trade and Development With Digital Technologies,” (ITIF, May 2023).

Amidst the burgeoning advancements in autonomous vehicles (AVs), striking a balance between expectation and reality emerges as a challenge. Rob and Jackie sat down with Richard Mudge, president and founder of Compass Transportation and Technology, to discuss how innovations in the world of AVs can affect safety, productivity, and job creation.

• Michigan.gov. “I-94 Connected & Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor Proposed Project,” Michigan Department of Transportation.

• Aswin Prabhakar. “Logic, Not Emotions, Should Guide Autonomous Vehicle Deployment,” (Center for Data Innovation, December 2023).

While quantum computing technology is maturing more slowly than other innovations, its potential is vast. Rob and Jackie sat down with Murray Thom, vice president of product management at D-Wave, to discuss quantum computing applications already being put into place, and possible advancements in the future. 

• Hodan Omaar. “The U.S. Approach to Quantum Policy,” (Center for Data Innovation, October 2023). 
• Congress.gov. "Text - H.R.6227 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): National Quantum Initiative Act," December 21, 2018.

• “Quantum Computing: The Case for a National Task Force,” (Center for Data Innovation, February 2022).
• Hodan Omaar. “What Should Congress Include in The Next National Quantum Initiative Act?,” (Center for Data Innovation, May 2023).

Used to its full potential, artificial intelligence (AI) can assist employees, improve interactions with customers, and increase efficiency. Rob and Jackie sat down with Nitin Mittal, a principal with Deloitte Consulting, to discuss how AI is being used to enhance work environments. 

• Thomas H. Davenport and Nitin Mittal. All-in On AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence, (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023).
• “State of AI in the Enterprise, 5th edition report,” (Deloitte United States, 2022).

• Patrick Grady and Daniel Castro, “Tech Panics, Generative AI, and the Need for Regulatory Caution,” (ITIF, May 2023).

Forced local data storage requirements are at the heart of both digital protectionism and digital authoritarianism. Rob and Jackie sat down with Nigel Cory, associate director covering trade policy at ITIF, to discuss how data localization reduces trade, slows productivity, and increases prices.

• Nigel Cory, “How the G7 Can Use ‘Data Free Flow With Trust’ to Build Global Data Governance,” (ITIF, July 2023).
• Nigel Cory, “USTR Tai’s Justification to Take a Time-out on Digital Trade Does Not Hold Up,” (ITIF, Dec 2023).

To flourish, innovation hubs need the right combination of talent, tech, funding, and market access. Rob and Jackie sat down with Jessica Corrigan, the director of M&T's Tech Academy, to discuss how smaller regions can become powerful innovation ecosystems.

• Robert D. Atkinson, “Comments to the Commerce Department Regarding Implementation of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program,” (ITIF, March 2023).

• Matt Ashare, “At M&T Bank, modernization and talent strategies intersect in the cloud,” (CIO Dive, June 2023).
• Robert D. Atkinson, “Understanding the U.S. National Innovation System, 2020,” (ITIF, November 2023).

There is a troubling chasm between trade policy and competition policy. Rob and Jackie sat down with Alden Abbott, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, and Shanker Singham, one of the world's leading international trade and competition economists, to discuss how to bridge the gap between barriers at the border and conditions of competition inside the border.

• Shanker Singham and Alden F. Abbott. Trade, Competition and Domestic Regulatory Policy, (Taylor & Francis Group, 2023).
• Stephen Ezell, “The Bayh-Dole Act’s Vital Importance to the U.S. Life-Sciences Innovation System,” (ITIF, March 2019).

China has had a dismissive attitude about its obligations as a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) ever since it joined the organization. Rob and Jackie sat down with Dennis Shea, executive director of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, to discuss how China’s current non-market economic system is simply incompatible with WTO norms. 

• Dennis Shea. China’s Trade-Disruptive Economic Model and the Implications for the WTO. (U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, 2018).
• 2022 Report to Congress On China’s WTO Compliance. United States Trade Representative, February 2023.
• Robert D. Atkinson. How China’s Mercantilist Policies Have Undermined Global Innovation in the Telecom Equipment Industry. (ITIF, 2020).
• Stephen Ezell. False Promises II: The Continuing Gap Between China’s WTO Commitments and Its Practices. (ITIF, 2021).

Export controls exist at the perilous intersection of economic policy and national security. What could go wrong? Rob and Jackie sat down with Kevin Wolf, a partner at Akin Gump, to discuss how to strike the right balance between keeping certain advanced technologies away from adversarial militaries without locking U.S. firms out of global markets. 

• Robert D. Atkinson, “Export Controls Shrink the Global Markets U.S. Semiconductors Need to Survive” (ITIF, July 2023). 
• Stephen Ezell and Caleb Foote, “How Stringent Export Controls on Emerging Technologies Would Harm the U.S. Economy” (ITIF, May 2019). 

Policy regarding new technologies can be reactionary, confused, and focused on the wrong things. Rob and Jackie sat down with Patrick Grady, former policy analyst at ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation, to discuss what the European Union’s policymaking process can teach us about regulating emerging tech.

Mentioned:

• Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence, (European Commission, April 2021).

Related"

• Patrick Grady, “The AI Act Should Be Technology-Neutral” (Center for Data Innovation, February 2023).
• Ashley Johnson, “Restoring US Leadership on Digital Policy” (ITIF, July 2023).