Chamber President Laurie White hosted a conversation with Robert Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation which is recognized as the world’s top think tank for science and technology policy. Previously, Atkinson served as the first executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council.

The two spoke about corporate R&D spending trends, federal stimulus proposals, artificial intelligence, the transformation of higher education, expanding industry growth sectors such as cloud computing, smart manufacturing, robotics, the impacts of the pandemic on commercial office space, online education, healthcare and more.

Keep an eye out for ITIF's State New Economy Index due out in September.
 

Quotes of Note

"I don't believe we're going to have the same economy when we come out of this...It's going to be a different economy."

"This next big wave is going to transform a whole set of industries in Rhode Island...this is a big opportunity for states that aren't the Silicon Valleys of the world...to really make a big leap forward here, and the technology is going to make that possible."