‘Big Research’ splits over R&D packages- POLITICO – Politico

With help from Emily Birnbaum

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Cracks in the R&D monolith: Tensions within the powerful research lobby poised to reap big benefits in new competitiveness legislation are rising ahead of an impending bill conference.

Tech industry allies with Black, Hispanic groups: Some organizations representing people of color and backed by tech money are resisting Capitol Hills antitrust push.

If it quacks like a duck: Privacy-focused search engine and Google nemesis DuckDuckGo formally enters the D.C. lobbying game.

ITS FRIDAY, FEB. 18. Welcome to Morning Tech! What are everyones long weekend plans? It feels like the first time in a while that less work has lined up with less pandemic lets get out there and do stuff!

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RESEARCH LOBBY SPLIT AHEAD OF USICA CONFERENCE: The little-discussed research lobbys academic and industry wings were already at odds over divergent lawmaker plans to overhaul the National Science Foundation. Now, ahead of a conference for the House and Senates competitiveness packages, cracks are emerging among university lobbyists over the expansion of a program meant to fund researchers in rural or overlooked states.

Revamping NSF: Its the primary driver of basic research in the United States, but NSF hasnt historically done much to turn that research into real-world applications. Both the Houses America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521) and the Senates U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260) would create a new applied-technology directorate at the agency but the Senate, driven in part by competition with China, envisions a more fundamental pivot at NSF to drive research into marketable technologies.

Daro Gil, the director of research at chip-designer IBM and a member of NSFs board of directors, said he prefers the Senates bold set of changes to NSF over the Houses more cautious approach. Though IBM is one company that stands to benefit from a powerful technology directorate at NSF, Gil said Wednesday hes confident the agency can expand aggressively into applied sciences without compromising one iota its core mission.

Academia is pushing back. During a Thursday call with several heads of research at universities across the country convened by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, one of the largest research lobbies in Washington Roger Wakimoto, the head of research at the University of California, Los Angeles, said hed prefer an NSF focused more on challenges, scientific questions that wont necessarily lead right away to workable technologies.

Deborah Altenberg, APLUs head of research policy and government affairs, expressed concern that the Senate bill is too rigid in its list of 10 key technology areas, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and microchips. There needs to be maximum flexibility, she said.

Squabble over research dollars: Theres also a split within academia on the wisdom of the Senate bills plan to set aside 20 percent of NSFs research dollars for states that have historically received little R&D funding, primarily rural states. The Senate bill puts the program on track to expand nearly tenfold, to just under $2 billion per year but doesnt add any extra research dollars to NSFs overall pot.

The provision was spearheaded last year by Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee. The change is likely to funnel more federal research funding into universities in Mississippi and other rural states, but that money will likely come out of the pockets of research institutions in states like Massachusetts, California and Washington.

There was tension on the APLU call when the rural state funding expansion was discussed. University representatives from states like Kentucky lauded the provision, while Wakimoto of UCLA warned it could cause emerging research institutions in his state to get lost in the shuffle.

BACKED BY TECH MONEY, BLACK & HISPANIC GROUPS JOIN ANTITRUST FIGHT: A slew of groups representing Black and Hispanic-owned businesses are inundating policymakers with arguments contending that antitrust efforts targeting the tech industry will harm communities of color.

But as Emily discovered in her latest for Pros, several of these groups have one thing in common they have financial backing or other ties with many of the largest tech companies.

At least six such groups either receive funding or have close partnerships with Amazon, Google and Facebook parent company Meta. And their messages are being amplified by the tech industry, either directly or through their vast network of lobbyists and trade associations.

Unintended consequences? Industry representatives say their relationships with groups representing people of color stem from a mutual understanding of the adverse consequences the legislative effort to rein in the major tech companies could have on Black and Hispanic people.

Honestly, I dont know that the authors of these bills have fully considered their unintentional impact on communities of color, said Adam Kovacevich, a former Google executive who founded the trade group Chamber of Progress.

Paula Sardinas, a spokesperson for the Seattle-area Washington Build Back Black Alliance, said groups in her coalition make policy decisions that are best for the people. The companies have zero input. (One of the alliances member groups has disclosed receiving at least $200,000 total from Amazon and Facebook).

But some prominent lawmakers, like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), are unmoved by the tech industry's messaging.

In a last-ditch attempt to preserve their corrosive powers, Big Tech is now circulating arguments that antitrust legislation will harm Black communities, said Jeffries, a co-sponsor of House tech antitrust legislation and former whip of the Congressional Black Caucus. I dont buy it, he added.

DUCK, DUCK, ANTITRUST! Search engine DuckDuckGo, which brands itself as a privacy-minded alternative to Google, registered its first lobbyist last week as the rush to pass antitrust legislation speeds up in both chambers and as midterms approach.

For years, DuckDuckGo has agitated against Google in Washington and in Europe, arguing that the tech giant has manipulated the extensions on its Chrome web browser to crush smaller rivals. Now Kate McInnis, DuckDuckGos newly registered lobbyist, says the company plans to help push the antitrust bills across the finish line.

The strategy: McInnis has been working on policy with DuckDuckGo since 2020. At the time, she told Emily, she thought shed spend all her time on privacy policy. But as the legislative debates have shifted, so has the small search engines government affairs strategy. She finally realized she was spending at least 20 percent of her time speaking to lawmakers and staffers, which meant it was time to formally register.

We see there is an opportunity for Congress to pass bills this session, so we are accordingly ramping up our efforts to see where the bills are going, McInnis said. Shes particularly (perhaps unsurprisingly) focused on boosting the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992), a bill aimed at preventing the biggest tech companies from harming their rivals.

Small businesses: She said DuckDuckGo is particularly focused on knocking down the big tech companies arguments that the legislation could hurt small businesses. Smaller companies like hers are facing a complex landscape: Lawmakers are more willing than ever to listen to them, but Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple are pushing even more aggressively from the other side. The big companies claim that an attempt to rein them in will also harm the small business ecosystem, since small businesses often use the big platforms products to advertise, make sales and otherwise operate.

Last month, DuckDuckGo and dozens of other small tech companies signed onto a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. McInnis said the small- to medium-sized tech companies supporting the legislation are working in concert to tell offices they back changes in the market.

Its definitely a sign that Big Tech is scared, if theyre coming out with these strong messages that these bills would break services consumers love, McInnis said. We see it as the opposite these bills would allow consumers to do what they like on their devices and operating systems.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) rejoins the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation as an honorary co-chair. ... Erica Sackin is the new communications head at Meta for counterterrorism and dangerous organizations and individuals. ... Morten Skroejer is the new senior director for technology competition policy at The Software & Information Industry Association. ... Chuck Cash is the new vice president of federal sales at space data and analytics and space services provider Spire.

ICYMI: POLITICOs Ben Schreckinger braves the Denver nightclub scene to learn everything there is to know about the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, a blockchain tool that proponents claim will change everything.

The dark side of TikTok: The New York Times reports on the harrowing experience of one family whose daughters TikTok stardom brought violence and death to their home.

I see you, Skynet: The Government Accountability Office releases a report on the Pentagons latest efforts to develop AI capabilities.

BILLIONAIRE HARASSMENT! The Wall Street Journal reports lawyers for electric car company Tesla are accusing the Securities and Exchange Commission of harassing Tesla CEO Elon Musk over a 2018 settlement restricting his social media use.

Not a threat, just a thought: An Amazon union-avoidance official told workers in its largest New York City warehouse that things could get worse should they try to unionize, Vices Motherboard reports.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Heidi Vogt ([emailprotected]), Konstantin Kakaes ([emailprotected]), Emily Birnbaum ([emailprotected]), Brendan Bordelon ([emailprotected]), John Hendel ([emailprotected]), Rebecca Kern ([emailprotected]) and Leah Nylen ([emailprotected]). Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [emailprotected]. And don't forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

TTYL!

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'Big Research' splits over R&D packages- POLITICO - Politico