Policy at the Speed of Tech

The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of policy entrepreneurs. Modeled after tech incubators like Y Combinator, we take STEM experts, teach them the policy process through fellowship and executive education programs, and encourage them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems.

project SPOTLIGHT

Embedding Equity in City Broadband Investments

The City of New York is currently carrying out the largest city-led initiative to close the digital divide in the nation, seeking to provide quality internet service to the 40% of New York City households that do not have both home and mobile broadband. As the City contracts with private companies through this initiative, how can it ensure that companies adhere to digital inclusion principles such as equity, performance, affordability, privacy, and choice? Read More

project SPOTLIGHT

Balancing Tech Innovation and Oversight in State Governments

The State of California’s process for technology project approval is a long and cumbersome experience for teams and stakeholders alike. Three teams from the Winter 2021 Tech Executive Leadership Initiative proposed ways to deliver innovation faster without compromising on quality and accountability. Read More

project SPOTLIGHT

COVID-19 DataCollector

Building off of the success of MuckRock’s Assignments crowdsourcing tool, COVID-19 DataCollector serves as a flexible, research-on-demand platform that harnesses widespread interest in volunteering to help collect, clean, and analyze key data sets in the public interest related to the COVID-19 crisis. Read More

project SPOTLIGHT

Fair Algorithmic Housing Loans

Mortgage lenders increasingly use machine learning (ML) algorithms to make loan approval and pricing decisions. But such algorithms present challenges: when ML models discriminate, they do so disproportionately against underbanked borrowers. This project recommends that New York State banking regulators define a fairness metric for mortgage algorithms and pilot automated fair lending tests. Read More

project SPOTLIGHT

Protecting Older Users Online

Strong empirical evidence suggests older adults are as vulnerable as young children in their interactions online, yet technology policy projects often do not make special considerations for this age group. This project recommends that the federal government redesign its scam reporting system to facilitate participation by older adults. Read More

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