The Center for Innovation Policy
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law is a forum for independent analysis and balanced discussion of policies for promoting technological innovation that enhances long-term social welfare.
Spring 2022 Conference
The Evolving Role of Universities in the American Innovation Ecosystem
March 03–04, 2022 | Online
The conference sought to outline a new framework for America’s universities in the context of the country’s long-term competitive future. The conference addressed key questions within this framework through panel discussions with key leaders in academia, government, and industry, including five university presidents: Michael Crow, President, ASU, Rebecca Blank, Chancellor, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Farnam Jahanian, President, Carnegie Mellon University, and Vincent Price, President, Duke University.
Read an article about the conference
2021-2022 China Innovation Series
The Rise of the Techno-Security
State under Xi Jinping
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
7:00 p.m. (ET) | Online
Registration: bit.ly/ChinaInnovationSP22
SPEAKERS:
- Tai Ming Cheung
Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy, &
Director, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, U.C. San Diego - Dr. Denis Simon moderator
Senior Adviser to the President for China Affairs, Duke University
CO-SPONSORS:
▪ Duke University Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
▪ The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
▪ Duke University Center for International & Global Studies
Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches
Antitrust Perspectives on Innovation and Competition with Fiona Scott Morton, Carl Shapiro, and Arti Rai
Thursday, December 2, 2021
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law's seminar series "Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches" seeks to shed light on innovation policy issues that are on the horizon.
In both Congress and the Biden Administration, key policymakers are arguing that recent merger and acquisition trends call for renewed vigor in antitrust enforcement. For some, the technology and biopharmaceutical sectors are particularly promising antitrust targets. In this Conversation with Duke’s Arti Rai, Professors Fiona Scott Morton, Yale, and Carl Shapiro, U.C. Berkeley – two prominent antitrust scholars with deep government experience – discuss the implications of these antitrust arguments for innovation and competition policy. After the discussion, there will be ample time for questions from the audience.
SPEAKERS:
- Fiona M. Scott Morton
Professor of Economics, Yale University - Carl Shapiro
Professor of the Graduate School, U.C. Berkeley - Arti K. Rai moderator
Faculty Co-Director, The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
CO-SPONSORS:
▪ The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
▪ Duke University Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Fuqua School of Business
Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches
How Sustainable Is the Chinese Innovation Juggernaut? with Craig Allen, Paul Triolo, Matt Turpin, and Denis Simon
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law's seminar series "Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches" seeks to shed light on innovation policy issues that are on the horizon. The November 3 program featured Craig Allen, US-China Business Council, Paul Triolo, Eurasia Group, and Matt Turpin, Hoover Institute, in conversation with Dr. Denis Simon, Executive Director of the Center. After the discussion, there was ample time for questions from the audience.
SPEAKERS:
- Craig Allen
President, US-China Business Council - Paul Triolo
Practice Head for Geotechnology, Eurasia Group - Matt Turpin
Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution - Denis Simon moderator
Executive Director, The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
CO-SPONSORS:
▪ The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
▪ Duke University Center for International and Global Studies
▪ Duke University Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
Conversations on Innovation:
New Thinking and New Approaches
The Place of Defense R&D in the U.S. Innovation System with Michael Brown and Denis Simon
Thursday, October 7, 2021
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law's seminar series "Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches" seeks to shed light on innovation policy issues that are on the horizon. The October 7 program featured Michael Brown, Director of the Defense Innovation Unit at the U.S. Department of Defense, in conversation with Dr. Denis Simon, Executive Director of the Center. After the discussion, there was ample time for questions from the audience.
SPEAKERS:
- Michael Brown
Director, Defense Innovation Unit,
U.S. Department of Defense - Denis Simon moderator
Executive Director, The Center for
Innovation Policy at Duke Law
CO-SPONSORS:
▪ The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
▪ Duke Law Center on Law, Ethics and
National Security
▪ Duke University Center for International and
Global Studies
Due to a technical problem, the recording of the program is audio-only.
Conversations on Innovation:
New Thinking and New Approaches
The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act: What Will Success Look Like? with Aaron Chatterji, Kei Koizumi, and Stuart Benjamin
Thursday, September 9, 2021
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law's seminar series "Conversations on Innovation: New Thinking and New Approaches" seeks to shed light on innovation policy issues that are on the horizon. The September 9 program featured Dr. Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Kei Koizumi, Chief of Staff at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, in conversation with Prof. Stuart Benjamin, Faculty Co-Director of the Center. They discussed the ramifications of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (approved by the Senate in June and pending in the House) and the larger innovation and competition issues surrounding it. In the short-, medium-, and long-term, how will we know if the Act is achieving its goals? What else will need to be done to ensure the future competitiveness of the American economy? After a lengthy exchange of perspectives by the participants, there were questions from the audience.
SPEAKERS:
- Dr. Aaron Chatterji
Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Commerce - Kei Koizumi
Chief of Staff, Office of Science and Technology
Policy, Executive Office of the President - Stuart M. Benjamin moderator
Faculty Co-Director of The Center for
Innovation Policy at Duke Law and
William Van Alstyne Professor of Law
CO-SPONSORS:
▪ The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law
▪ Duke Science & Society
▪ Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative

Accountability, Secrecy, and Innovation in AI-Enabled Clinical Decision Software
Arti K. Rai, Isha Sharma, & Christina Silcox
Journal of Law and the Biosciences
14 November 2020
This article employs analytical and empirical tools to dissect the complex relationship between secrecy, accountability, and innovation incentives in clinical decision software enabled by machine learning (ML-CD). The authors provide specific suggestions for how FDA regulation, patent law, and tort liability could be tweaked to improve information flow without sacrificing innovation incentives.

Trust, but Verify: Informational Challenges Surrounding AI-Enabled Clinical Decision Software
Christina Silcox, Arti K. Rai, & Isha Sharma
18 September 2020
The Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy white paper, funded by the Greenwall Foundation, discusses ways to incentivize innovation in AI-enabled medical products while effectively communicating how and when to use them.

Righting the Research Imbalance
Stephen A. Merrill
March 2018
Research in the physical sciences and engineering yields results important to technological innovation, national security, and economic growth. But since the end of the Cold War, public funding of work in these fields has lagged in relation to the size of the economy, expenditures by governments of other countries, and our own government’s support of the biological and medical sciences. This white paper documents the extent of the deficit, explains how it came about and why attempts to correct it have failed, shows that non-federal government sources of funding have not stepped up to compensate, and discusses needed next steps.