Robert Atkinson

Robert D. Atkinson is founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the world’s leading think tank for science and technology policy. He is an internationally recognized scholar, a widely published author and a trusted adviser to policymakers around the world, with expertise in the broad economics of innovation and specific policy and regulatory questions around new and emerging technologies. Atkinson’s most recent book, co-authored with David Moschella, is “Technology Fears and Scapegoats: 40 Myths About Privacy, Jobs, AI, and Today’s Innovation Economy.” Before founding ITIF, Atkinson was vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute and director of its Technology & New Economy Project. He received his master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Oregon and was named a distinguished alumnus in 2014. He received his Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.