ITIF Tech Policy To-Do List
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Tech Policy To-Do List
Policy discussions about technology and innovation issues often focus narrowly on iconic places like Silicon
Valley or Boston’s Route 128 corridor. But America’s innovation-driven, high-tech economy actually is
widely diffused—and every state and congressional district has a stake in its success.
As a nonpartisan think tank focusing on the rapidly evolving intersection of technology, innovation, and
public policy, one of the ITIF’s most important roles is to develop actionable insights and proposals that
policymakers can trust to foster innovation, growth, and progress for every congressional district and state in
the country. Here, we provide a menu of such ideas for the administration and Congress.
The Tech Policy To-Do List is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of all tech policy issues currently
before Congress. Nor should the fact that a proposal is excluded here be interpreted to mean that ITIF
doesn’t support it. Rather, this list is intended to highlight a selection of new ideas (beyond simply increasing
funding for existing programs or broad regulatory or tax changes) that may not yet have received adequate
attention. It is organized by topic area, with short summaries of each idea and citations for additional details.
For any questions or for more information, please contact ITIF at mail@itif.org or 202-449-1351.
(Last updated August 17, 2020)
ITIF Tech Policy To-Do List
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CONTENTS
Innovation and Competitiveness ..................................................................................................3
Technology Development ..................................................................................................................... 3
Technology Transfer ............................................................................................................................. 6
Technology Adoption and Diffusion.................................................................................................... 11
Competitiveness ................................................................................................................................. 12
Trade and Globalization ............................................................................................................ 15
Productivity........................................................................................................................................ 19
Education and Training ...................................................................................................................... 21
Manufacturing.................................................................................................................................... 26
Artificial Intelligence and Data................................................................................................... 30
Internet Policy ........................................................................................................................... 39
Cybersecurity ..................................................................................................................................... 39
E-Government and E-Commerce ........................................................................................................ 42
Privacy ............................................................................................................................................... 47
Transportation and Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 50
Broadband Telecommunications ................................................................................................ 51
Clean-Energy Innovation and Adoption ..................................................................................... 55
ITIF Tech Policy To-Do List
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INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS
Technology Development
Congress should establish a national initiative to support tech hubs in the heartland.
The U.S. technology sector continues to grow rapidly, driving the nation’s innovation and overall economic
growth. However, advanced technology companies are increasingly concentrated in only a few very high-cost
metro hubs, such as Silicon Valley, Boston, and Seattle—creating a “winner-take-most” dynamic. The result
is not only increasing regional inequality and lost opportunity in the heartland but reduced U.S.
competitiveness. It’s time for the federal government to take aggressive steps to counter the epidemic of
regional division and avoid ceding its innovation lead to China. Congress should establish a major new
initiative to select a set of promising metro areas to receive a major package of federal innovation inputs and
supports that would help these areas accelerate, transform, and scale up their innovation sectors.
More details: Robert D. Atkinson, Mark Muro, and Jacob Whiton, “The Case for Growth Centers: How to Spread Tech Innovation Across
America” (ITIF and the Brookings Institution, December 2019), https://itif.org/publications/2019/12/09/case-growth-
centers-how-spread-tech-innovation-across-america.
Congress should incentivize continued venture capital investment in America’s most innovative and
promising young start-ups.
Congress should pass the bipartisan New Business Preservation Act, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-
MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Angus King (I-ME). It builds on the previously
successful State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) by establishing a program, administered by the
Treasury Department, to allocate $2 billion to states on a population basis to attract private venture capital. It
would offer a one-to-one match of federal dollars with venture capital investment in promising startups,
particularly in states outside the major venture capital centers.
More details: Stephen Ezell and Scott M. Andes, “Localizing the Economic Impact of Research and Development: Policy Proposals for the
Trump Administration and Congress” (ITIF and Brookings Institution, December 2016),
https://itif.org/publications/2016/12/07/localizing-economic-impact-research-and-development-policy-proposals-trump.
Congress should transform the Small Business Administration (SBA) into the New Business
Administration (NBA).
On a host of issues, from productivity to wages and benefits, environmental protection, and exports, large and
medium-sized companies outperform small businesses. Even on job creation, it is new, fast-growing firms that
perform better, not small firms. So, while it makes sense for government to help startups get off the ground in
the hope that they will become big and successful, it makes little sense for government to continue assisting
corner cafes and pizza parlors in perpetuity. Accordingly, Congress should transform the Small Business
Administration (SBA) into the New Business Administration (NBA). Among other things, this would mean
targeting SBA loan programs toward high-growth startups and shifting SBA assistance programs to startups.
ITIF Tech Policy To-Do List
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The mission of the SBA’s Office of Advocacy should be altered so that it focuses on eliminating or improving
those regulations that act as barriers to high-growth startup companies.
More details: Robert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind, “Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business” (Cambridge: The MIT
Press, 2018), 265.
Congress should reform the Regulatory Flexibility Act to focus on helping new firms.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act allows the SBA to review the impact of regulations on small businesses. The
result is to unfairly exempt small, usually less-productive and lower-wage businesses from the obligations
other companies face, thereby distorting economic activity. Congress should refocus the act on new businesses
younger than two years old and even consider exempting these businesses from most regulations as they
develop and implement their business plans.
More details: Robert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind, “Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business” (Cambridge: The MIT
Press, 2018), 265, https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-beautiful.
Congress should improve and expand the R&D tax credit.
The U.S. R&D tax credit is far less generous than that of most other countries. Yet, the credit helps spur
more R&D by companies in the United States and increases innovation and competitiveness. Congress
should increase the Alternative Simplified Credit for R&D from 14 percent to at least 30 percent and increase
the regular credit from at least 20 percent to 40 percent.
More details: Robert D. Atkinson, “Think Like an Enterprise: Why Nations Need Comprehensive Productivity Strategies” (ITIF, May
2016), https://itif.org/publications/2016/05/04/think-enterprise-why-nations-need-comprehensive-productivity-strategies.
Congress should broaden and expand the R&D credit for collaborative research.
The United States provides a 20 percent credit for collaborative R&D, but it only applies to energy research.
Congress should eliminate the energy restriction. Research consortia, whether with companies or universities,
tend to focus more on more basic and exploratory research, which have big spillovers, with many of the
benefits going to other firms and society. Therefore, firms do less of this kind of research than is economically
optimal. That is why a number of other countries, including Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Japan, France,
Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom have in the last decade established more generous incentives for this
form of research.
More details: Robert D. Atkinson, “Effective Corporate Tax Reform in the Global Innovation Economy” (ITIF, July 2009),
https://itif.org/publications/2009/07/19/effective-corporate-tax-reform-global-innovation-economy.
Congress should pass the Support the Small Business R&D Act.
In December 2015, Congress passed the PATH Act, which expanded small businesses’ access to the R&D
credit by permitting them to claim the credit against their employment taxes or against their alternative
minimum credit (AMT) tax. But not enough small businesses are aware that this legislation greatly expands
their access to the credit. Accordingly, Congress should pass the Support Small Business R&D Act, which
