This week in Washington IP, both houses of Congress are quiet during August recess but patent and IP policy issues are front and center at the Hudson Institute, which is hosting events to explore how light regulatory frameworks can increase innovation, as well as the importance of injunctions for standard-essential patent owners. Elsewhere, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine look at how federal R&D and commercialization funding programs for small businesses have been implemented by the National Science Foundation, and both the Urban Institute and the American Association for the Advancement of Science look at how data collection practices and technological platforms intersect with issues of racial equity.

The Hudson Institute

Author Matt Ridley on How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom

At 12:00 PM on Monday, online video webinar.

Throughout history, technological revolutions have been able to spring to life thanks in part to reduced levels of regulatory interference and few, if any, laws protecting entrenched interests. This event will feature a discussion with Matt Ridley, member of the UKs House of Lords and author of How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom, to discuss various case studies featured in the book on how governmental regulatory frameworks affected innovation during the Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution and the Biotech Revolution. Moderating the discussion with Ridley will be Adam Mossoff, Chair, Forum for Intellectual Property, Hudson Institute.

The Brookings Institution

Why The World Is At a Turning Point With Artificial Intelligence and What To Do About It?

At 3:00 PM on Monday, online video webinar.

The advent of artificial intelligence has inspired reactions ranging from doomsday concerns over threats to humanity to hopes that AI will usher in a wave of productivity that can spur the next economic revolution. This event, hosted by Brookings Center for Technology Innovation, will explore the current state of AI technology as well as policy decisions that could shape AI as a social force for either good or ill. The event will feature a discussion including John Allen, President, The Brookings Institution; Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, and Senior Fellow, Center for Technology Innovation; and moderated by Nicol Turner Lee, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, and Director, Center for Technology Innovation.

The Hudson Institute

Injunctions for Standard-Essential Patents: Safeguarding Innovation in the United States, Europe, and Beyond

At 12:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Standards in cellular communications, like 4G LTE and 5G, as well as other digital communication technologies are enabling a rapid pace of innovation in the form of smart facilities and connected cars. The interplay between patents and communications standards is complex and injunctions can be an important tool to ensure that a technology implementer is paying a fair and reasonable royalty to tech developers for the use of their technology. This event will feature a discussion with a panel including Claudia Tapia, Director of IPR Policy and Legal Academic Research, Ericsson; Adam Mossoff, Chair, Forum for Intellectual Property, Hudson Institute; Urka Petrov?i?, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; and Christoph Ann, Professor of Law, Technical University of Munich.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Review of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs at the National Science Foundation: Committee Meeting 3

At 6:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Both the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs facilitate the distribution of federal R&D expenditures to aid American small businesses in commercializing technologies. Seed funding made available through SBIR and STTR by the National Science Foundation between 2007 and 2016 has funded early stage commercialization efforts for about 400 companies per year. This event will begin with introductory remarks by Maryann Feldman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Scott Stern, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The event will also feature discussions with Michael Kearney, The Engine, and Jason Rathje, AFVentures.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Race to the Future? Values and Vision in the Design of Technology and Society

At 11:30 AM on Thursday, online video webinar.

The increasing use of algorithms, which often reflect the viewpoints of their creators, in technological platforms has led many to look at the ways that modern technologies can reinforce systemic inequalities along racial or other lines. This event will feature a discussion with Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University, and author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code.

Urban Institute

Centering Racial Equity in Data Use

At 2:00 PM on Friday, online video webinar.

While researchers and data analysts strive to gain an objective view of a particular study subject through data collection, practices regarding data collection can be used to disadvantage those whose demographic data like race or income can be abused. This event, co-hosted in partnership with the Urban Institute, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership and Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, will explore recent findings on equitable data practices that are responsive to the needs of various communities. Speakers at this event will include Bridget Blount, Senior Director of Data Initiatives, Baltimores Promise; Sue Gallagher, Chief Innovation Officer, Childrens Services Council of Broward County; Leah Hendey, Codirector, National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, Urban Institute; and Kassie Scott, Research Assistant, Urban Institute.

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This Week in Washington IP: Injunctions for SEPs, How Innovation Flourishes in Freedom, and Reviewing SBIR/STTR at the National Science Foundation -...