GeoTech Center

At the recent G7 meeting in Cornwall, there was a consensus among democratic nations to offer viable alternatives to autocrats and autocratic governments. One of the areas where such an alternative can be clearly demonstrated is in smart cities.

The window of opportunity for an agreement between the United States and European Union (EU) on a common tech rulebook is open once again. In December 2020, the European Commission, encouraged by the victory of ardent Atlanticist Joseph Biden in the US presidential election, issued A New EU-US Agenda for Global Change, an ambitious proposal for strengthening and broadening the transatlantic relationship in multiple key domains including technology governance.

US President Joseph Biden is set to embark on his first official overseas foreign affairs trip from June 10 to 16. In light of mounting geopolitical issues around technology, the GeoTech Center provides actionable recommendations for the President to reach global solutions.

On June 29, 2021, the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei unveiled “Zuchongzhi,” the fastest quantum computer in the world, which at fifty-six qubits is just a nose ahead of Google’s Sycamore quantum computer. But are we calling the race too soon? Will the United States and its allies catch up?

Everybody is racing to space – not just nations, but private companies and even individuals. As this becomes more commonplace, where will the responsibility fall when it comes to space ventures, and can we put aside the competition to uniformly address both orbital and Earth-bound issues?

On this episode of Fast Thinking, Atlantic Council experts Jen Ellis and Trent Teyema discuss the Van Buren v. US Supreme Court case.

A one-hour live discussion where H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence for the United Arab Emirates, shares his perspectives on how the current pandemic presents both challenges and opportunities for technological responses. The Minister shared his thoughts on which technologies will deliver on their promised outcomes and which technology and data trends will reshape the world as a result of the pandemic.

A GeoTech Hour discussion were Dr. David Brin and Dr. Kathryn Newcomer share their perspectives on what technologies, investments, and policy actions could help rebuild from COVID-19 on a global scale.

A GeoTech Hour considering how the choices made about tech design impact social issues and innovation at a national and transnational scale.

As part of the InterPlanetary Networking Special Interest Group (IPNSIG), GeoTech Commissioner Vint Cerf was one of the five authors that released a report that discussed the technical, operational and political challenges toward the development of a Solar System Internet (SSI).

On the AfriNuke podcast, Geotech director Dr. David Bray discusses how technological trends of democratization relate to nuclear weapons, network devices, information sharing, and space.

On a recent joint Georgetown and Atlantic Council masters’ class, GeoTech Director Dr. David Bray shared his insights on the seminar’s question: “Cybersecurity of Space-Based Assets and Why This Is Important.” This masters’ class also featured GeoTech Fellows and experts Dr. William Jeffrey, Chuck Brooks, and Dr. Divya Chander. Watch the recording.

On a radically transformed planet, different conceptual maps are necessary for understanding what today’s priorities must be. These maps, or mental models, inform the framing that policy and decision-makers use to weigh their options. Limitations in our conceptual frames can drastically limit the scope of considered futures.

In retrospect, the COVID-19 pandemic may mark a paradigm shift in global society if governments and their citizens worldwide today embrace its lessons, including many still emerging. One of these lessons concerns the dangers of ignoring knowledge we already had about interconnections between global public health, economic and national security, and ecological degradation.

Dr. Tiffany Vora continues her insights on vaccine hesitancy by laying out a human-centered health campaign approach that multiple sectors, from public health to social media companies, can consider.

The GeoTech Center’s Data Salon Series discusses data ethics among academics, policy makers, industry executives, and practitioners in the field. True to the mission of “good tech choices,” the data-driven analyses and informative virtual roundtables focus on championing positive paths forward.

Learn what the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center has done since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. View our video recaps. Read our analyses. Glean insights on how tech, data, and leadership can ensure the world gets through the pandemic and we build a better post-COVID-19 world together.

The Global Food System can be made more shock-resistant and scale to ensuring that everyone on the planet is fed. Data and technology can reduce disruptions to food production, distribution, and assurance activities locally and globally.