Join us…

The TNL will be prototyping Visiting Fellow Residencies (VFR). These can take place remotely or in a hybrid model and can last anywhere from a few days to multiple months. Possible topic areas are listed below. The goal is to bring external technical expertise into the TNL to explore problems and solutions both big and small, working together with Pardee RAND graduate students and RAND researchers. This combination of disciplines, approaches, and perspectives will help us redefine how public policy is defined, understood, and implemented for real and sustainable change.

The lab has emphasis in four broad areas of emerging tech: Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Digital Gaming. These have cross-cutting themes of ethics, social justice, racial equity, and communication.

For the next year, the TNL seeks to make progress on these “big problems/questions”

Some possible examples/use cases:

AI/ML – lablet lead: Gavin Hartnett

AR/VR – labelet lead: Tim Marler

Digital Gaming – lablet lead: Jonathan Welburn

IoT – lablet lead: TNL staff

Funding: it is anticipated that participating companies would cover the time for their personnel. The return on investment would be exploration of interesting question from a different set of lenses, and prototyping possible solutions at the intersection of emerging technologies and policy/society.

Outcomes: the goal of the TNL is to freely share the work of the lab. As such, the default position is typically, “publish rather than patent.” The TNL is sensitive to issues around proprietary materials, and that will be navigated thoughtfully.

Technology from the private sector is driving change and both government and society are struggling to keep up. We need to move public policy forward in ways that are sustainable, inclusive, timely, and relevant. Working in partnership between public and private sectors, at the TNL we can ask, “what if…” questions, and prototype emerging technology to both solve problems and better understand the broader implications. We look forward to exploring new models for collaboration with technology leaders and bringing external expertise into the TNL through Visiting Fellow Residencies and other engagements to help make progress on tough challenges while having a positive impact on society.