Telecom, Internet and technology sector representatives backed a light-touch regulatory approach to the IoT to ensure continued innovation, during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event Wednesday. ITIF's Center for Data Innovation released a report Wednesday detailing reasons the U.S. and other countries should adopt national strategies for IoT. It urged the government to adopt "smart public policies" for the IoT, including resisting the impulse to regulate or, if needed, regulating with a light touch. "We need an active strategy to make sure we don't get [IoT development] wrong and that we get it right," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson.

​Tech industry reaction was overwhelmingly positive Wednesday to the news that the U.S. and more than 50 of its World Trade Organization partners completed work on a final Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion proposal. A statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said the pact means more than $180 billion in yearly U.S. tech exports will no longer face tariffs in key markets around the world. The original ITA was reached in 1996, prompting many to say the new agreement was long overdue.

Telecom, Internet and technology sector representatives backed a light-touch regulatory approach to the IoT to ensure continued innovation, during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event Wednesday. ITIF's Center for Data Innovation released a report Wednesday detailing reasons the U.S. and other countries should adopt national strategies for IoT. It urged the government to adopt "smart public policies" for the IoT, including resisting the impulse to regulate or, if needed, regulating with a light touch. "We need an active strategy to make sure we don't get [IoT development] wrong and that we get it right," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson.

Telecom, Internet and technology sector representatives backed a light-touch regulatory approach to the IoT to ensure continued innovation, during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event Wednesday. ITIF's Center for Data Innovation released a report Wednesday detailing reasons the U.S. and other countries should adopt national strategies for IoT. It urged the government to adopt "smart public policies" for the IoT, including resisting the impulse to regulate or, if needed, regulating with a light touch. "We need an active strategy to make sure we don't get [IoT development] wrong and that we get it right," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson.

​Tech industry reaction was overwhelmingly positive Wednesday to the news that the U.S. and more than 50 of its World Trade Organization partners completed work on a final Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion proposal. A statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said the pact means more than $180 billion in yearly U.S. tech exports will no longer face tariffs in key markets around the world. The original ITA was reached in 1996, prompting many to say the new agreement was long overdue.

The EU needs to consolidate and manage spectrum through a single entity with the aim of "harmonizing band allocations, service rules, and regulations as much as possible" if it hopes to create a seamless mobile market in its transition to a digital single market (see 1505060038), said an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report Monday. “Despite being a world leader in mobile communications in the 3G era, Europe has since lagged the United States in deploying high-speed, data-intensive LTE technology," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson in a news release. "To recapture lost economic ground, Europe needs a bold new approach that vests significantly more control over spectrum policy in the European Commission." The EU's "28 different sets of regulations and 28 separate spectrum markets is fragmentation in the extreme," said ITIF telecom policy analyst Doug Brake, the report's author, in the release. He said the EU should look to the U.S., where states are precluded from developing wireless policy, because a single mobile market will be a "boon" to consumers and businesses in the 5G era. Other ITIF report recommendations include: permitting more consolidation in the mobile industry, or competition among four to six major firms to gain economies of scale; reallocating spectrum for mobile broadband use; encouraging the use of tradeable technology-neutral and flexible licenses "to allow room for change"; and adopting a neutral spectrum policy rather than "market shaping" to drive more innovation, capital investment and cost benefits.

The EU needs to consolidate and manage spectrum through a single entity with the aim of "harmonizing band allocations, service rules, and regulations as much as possible" if it hopes to create a seamless mobile market in its transition to a digital single market (see 1505060038), said an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report Monday. “Despite being a world leader in mobile communications in the 3G era, Europe has since lagged the United States in deploying high-speed, data-intensive LTE technology," said ITIF President Robert Atkinson in a news release. "To recapture lost economic ground, Europe needs a bold new approach that vests significantly more control over spectrum policy in the European Commission." The EU's "28 different sets of regulations and 28 separate spectrum markets is fragmentation in the extreme," said ITIF telecom policy analyst Doug Brake, the report's author, in the release. He said the EU should look to the U.S., where states are precluded from developing wireless policy, because a single mobile market will be a "boon" to consumers and businesses in the 5G era. Other ITIF report recommendations include: permitting more consolidation in the mobile industry, or competition among four to six major firms to gain economies of scale; reallocating spectrum for mobile broadband use; encouraging the use of tradeable technology-neutral and flexible licenses "to allow room for change"; and adopting a neutral spectrum policy rather than "market shaping" to drive more innovation, capital investment and cost benefits.

The Center for Data Innovation, affiliated with the Information and Technology Innovation Foundation (ITIF), submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget in response to OMB's request for public comments on proposed revisions to an order governing how the federal government manages information resources. The comments praised the OMB decision as a "welcome and necessary step towards creating a more responsive, transparent, efficient, and accountable government." The revision to the existing rule "provides a valuable opportunity" to better secure the benefits of open government data to the public and private sectors, said the comments.

The Center for Data Innovation, affiliated with the Information and Technology Innovation Foundation (ITIF), submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget in response to OMB's request for public comments on proposed revisions to an order governing how the federal government manages information resources. The comments praised the OMB decision as a "welcome and necessary step towards creating a more responsive, transparent, efficient, and accountable government." The revision to the existing rule "provides a valuable opportunity" to better secure the benefits of open government data to the public and private sectors, said the comments.

Public Knowledge President Gene Kimmelman rejected the latest proposal for net neutrality legislation from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The think tank released the proposal Thursday and hosted a panel on which Kimmelman was the only participant who hadn't previously advocated for a bipartisan compromise open Internet bill.