In the News

Nov 5, 2020

Data and technology will change the world

By Atlantic Council

“To summarize what we do at the GeoTech Center in a nutshell: we examine how technology and data are changing the world. Power and the norms of society always have been distributed in a few ways, including via the rule of law, use of new technologies, and shared human narratives. Moving forward, will advances in new technologies and data capabilities prompt us to become more autocratic or become more democratic as societies?”

Cybersecurity Digital Policy
gtc ai chess

In the News

Oct 26, 2020

Dr. David Bray featured in NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference

By Atlantic Council

“If you only treat this as a tech endeavor, you might get it right, but it won’t stick,” Dr. Bray said. “What you’re doing isn’t an add-on to agencies — this is transforming how the government does business.”

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

In the News

Oct 22, 2020

Nikhil Raghuveera: Mission-driven cryptocurrency requires an active commitment to equity

By Atlantic Council

“For cryptocurrency to meaningfully move “the needle on large global challenges,” as Armstrong writes, the underlying causes of inequality must be addressed. And while mission-driven cryptocurrency organizations cannot expect to do this alone, they have an important role to play in developing and directing their products to be used in the service of addressing the underlying problems. Those who declare they’re on a social mission inevitably sign themselves up for this challenge.”

Digital Policy Economy & Business

In the News

Oct 22, 2020

In the News: Sara-Jayne Terp’s quest to quash misinformation

By Atlantic Council

“She’s also cautiously optimistic about the strength of the network that’s under assault. On her road trip, Terp says, the more she drove, the more hopeful she became. ­People were proud of their cities, loved their communities. She saw that when people have something concrete to fight for, they are less prone to end up in phantom battles against illusory enemies. “You have to involve ­people in their own solution,” she says. By creating a world where misinformation makes more sense, Terp hopes more people will be able to reject it.”

Coronavirus Cybersecurity

In the News

Sep 18, 2020

Securing a future for farmers through technology

By Atlantic Council

COVID-19 has shaken up markets across the globe as much as it has societies, but perhaps no supply chain has been as impacted as that of food and agriculture. Fortunately, technology promises a brighter future, one where data shared over the internet can connect farmers directly with the people consuming their products. As Dr. David Bray, Director of the GeoTech Center, explained at the recent Agricultural Science Association of Ireland 2020 Conference, the world will need to consider an international approach, with far-reaching political implications, in order to rethink our current supply chains and meet the needs of our growing population, even with natural and human made shocks disrupting along the way.

Civil Society Coronavirus

In the News

Sep 9, 2020

Pandemic puts pressure on innovators to speed up

By Atlantic Council

“Necessity is the mother of invention, and right now, COVID-19 has created the need for tools to treat the current pandemic and mitigate the effects of future outbreaks, Dr. Bray said. The situation reminds him of how the risk from house fires prompted innovators to design a system to warn occupants before it was too late. ‘Can we instrument the planet in such a way that we’ll have earlier warning signs about new viruses and infections, analogous to smoke detectors?’”

Civil Society Coronavirus

In the News

Sep 8, 2020

Pandemic accents federal need for identification technology

By Atlantic Council

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have become increasingly reliant upon digital tools for their very survival. Whether in digital workspaces, or online applications for essential aid through unemployment insurance and other forms of relief, Americans have depended on digital resources to get through this tumultuous time. The crisis, though, has highlighted the weakness of much of the country’s digital infrastructure for handling such transactions, particularly in the lack of sufficient forms of digital identification. Dr. David Bray spoke to Signal magazine of the AFCEA on how Canada has implemented a form of digital identification that allowed them to overcome some of the hurdles faced by the US Government as it attempted to support the population.

Civil Society Coronavirus

In the News

Aug 28, 2020

Crisis innovation through data trusts: Dr. David Bray

By Atlantic Council

Major global crises like COVID-19 have proven how understanding data quickly and effectively will be essential to our survival; and, to meet that necessity, artificial intelligence will be key. However, without intentional choices to put people at the center of how we collect and manage data, artificial intelligence could spell the end of open societies, replaced instead with surveillance states or surveillance capitalism. “If companies or countries want to succeed in the next decade, we’ve got to figure out a way to do data with people, not to people,” Dr. Bray explained.

Cybersecurity Digital Policy
trouble ahead photo of a lightning storm at night over a city

GeoTech Cues

Aug 19, 2020

Potential trouble ahead: predictions from 2010 now are real in 2020

By David Bray

In 2010, the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center’s Director Dr. David Bray provided an unclassified briefing to the U.S. national security and defense communities on “Why Future Policy Leaders Will Need to Know Science, Technology, Global Business, and National Security”. Now, 10 years later, it is worth revisiting those slides – especially in light that those slides raised concerns about the use of small commercial drones and do-it-yourself drones back then and recently we have seen elevated concerns about what these could do to commercial airplanes in flight.

Cybersecurity Drones

In the News

Aug 19, 2020

German politics heats up

By Atlantic Council

For the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Atlantic Council Resident Fellow Julian Mueller-Kaler joins AICGS’ Jeff Rathke and Eric Langenbacher for a new episode of the Zeitgeist, to talk about German political dynamics, the Social Democratic Party, and Merkel’s ending tenure.

Democratic Transitions Elections