Robert D. Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

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Robert D. Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Robert D. Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and its Ottawa-based affiliate, the Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness. An internationally recognized economist and innovation scholar, Atkinson has shaped technology, industrial, and competitiveness policy debates across the United States and other allied economies. He has led major research initiatives and authored hundreds of influential articles on advanced manufacturing, productivity, tax policy, science and R&D, and global competitiveness, advising governments and industry leaders on how to build resilient innovation ecosystems amid intensifying geopolitical and technological competition. His books include Technology Fears and Scapegoats: 40 Myths about Privacy, Jobs, AI, and Today’s Innovation Economy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), Big Is Beautiful (MIT Press, 2018), Innovation Economics (Yale, 2012), among others.

Born in Calgary, Atkinson has advised governments at the highest levels across North America and internationally, serving on senior commissions and advisory bodies spanning multiple U.S. administrations as well as global initiatives focused on infrastructure, techno-economic competition with China, and artificial intelligence. He recently served on the Council of Canadian Academies’ Expert Panel on the State of Science, Technology, and Innovation, which was charged with assessing Canada’s innovation performance and global standing, has previously served on the UK government’s Place Advisory Group, and is a member of the Polaris Council, a body of cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary science and technology policy experts who advise the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team on emerging science and technology issues.

Before founding ITIF, Atkinson was vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute, where he directed the Technology & New Economy Project; served as the first executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, a public-private partnership of senior political, business, and labor leaders; and was a project director at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, where he spearheaded the seminal study The Technological Reshaping of Metropolitan America. He holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was awarded the Joseph E. Pogue Fellowship, and a master’s degree from the University of Oregon, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 2014.