States gear up to work on AI
Startup policy outlook under second Trump term
Executive coaching should be accessible to anyone who is interested, but oftentimes scaling the education is not practical. With her company Zella Life, co-founder Remy Meraz is democratizing professional development using AI. We sat down with her to discuss AI, independent contractors, and more.
After working in the financial sector for over 20 years, Mical Jeanlys-White founded her own company, WealthMore, a wealth tech with a focus on tackling a key financial barrier—wealth building and management. Her company leverages technology to connect everyday Americans with accessible wealth management services, aiming to provide wealth creation for all. We sat down with her to discuss her journey in raising capital, navigating tax policy, the evolving role of AI, and more.
Vance Reavie is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Using his knowledge from previous ventures, he created an AI platform that intelligently automates manual marketing and merchandising workflows and content generation processes for brands and retailers. We sat down with Vance to discuss the startup ecosystem in Arkansas, AI policy and regulation, grant opportunities, and more.
The past year put technology policy in the spotlight in many ways. From concerns about the spread of misinformation online, to proposals that would open up the door to a new breed of copyright and privacy trolls, technology companies of all sizes, especially startups, watched to see whether and how the Internet’s rules of the road would change in 2019.
Sacramento-based entrepreneurs may not receive as much attention as their Silicon Valley neighbors, but StartupSac—a nonprofit focused on informing, educating, empowering, and connecting founders and innovators—is working to supercharge the local startup community’s growth. We recently spoke with Laura Good, the cofounder of StartupSac, to learn more about the nonprofit’s work, the local Sacramento startup ecosystem, and what the future holds for the city’s entrepreneurial community.
The Big Story: U.S.-China trade deal touches tech. Officials from the United States and China announced last week that the two nations reached a phase-one trade compromise that will reportedly reduce a 15 percent tariff on roughly $120 billion in certain Chinese goods to 7 ½ percent. The deal would further halt additional tariffs that were slated to go into effect this month on other popular electronic goods.
Startup Tucson is building a centralized resource for entrepreneurship in Tucson, Arizona. The team at this nonprofit is arming business owners and aspiring startup founders with the tools, knowledge, and support systems they need to help their ideas thrive. We recently spoke with Liz Pocock, Startup Tucson’s CEO, about the work they do and how they’re harnessing the resources and expertise of their community.
This year, Engine focused on a number of critical policy issues impacting entrepreneurs and technology startups across the United States. Guided by the startup community’s concerns, we stood up for strong net neutrality rules, highlighted the importance of intermediary liability protections, called for a federal data privacy framework that works for both consumers and startups, and much more.
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to highlight some of the main policy issues that have affected the startup community this year, and what we’ve done to advance the goals of the entrepreneurial community.
The Big Story: USMCA includes critical digital provisions. This week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that a deal was reached with the Administration, Canada, and Mexico on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that includes digital provisions that will help startups grow their businesses abroad. Prior to this agreement, Speaker Pelosi indicated a desire to remove certain language in USMCA that echoes the intermediary liability protections found in U.S. law.
All too often, startups and other companies across the country fail to take advantage of local, state, and federal business incentive programs that could help them grow. IncentiLock, a St. Louis-based startup, is working to ease the incentive headache for startups and governments alike by offering software to automatically calculate tax credits and incentive benefits. We recently spoke with Jane Vancil, IncentiLock’s founder and CEO, to learn more about the company and Missouri’s startup ecosystem.
This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “encryption and lawful access.” While the hearing largely focused on the ways large tech companies use encryption—Apple and Facebook testified—companies of all sizes, especially startups, rely on increased privacy and security protections to gain and keep user trust as well as to differentiate themselves from larger competitors.
The Big Story: Digital trade provisions critical for startups. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is reportedly pushing to have digital trade provisions that provide intermediary liability protections for startups removed from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). These protections are based on the U.S. legal framework that startups rely on to launch, grow, and compete with major Internet companies.
New Haven, the home of Yale University, is quickly emerging as a hub of entrepreneurial activity in Connecticut. One of the organizations spurring early-stage startup development in The Elm City is Collab, a community-led accelerator that works to build up the confidence, skills, and resources available to emerging founders. We recently spoke with Caroline Smith and Margaret Lee—the co-founders and co-directors of Collab—to learn more about the accelerator’s work, the Connecticut startup ecosystem, and the work they’re doing to empower future entrepreneurs.
When the United States negotiates trade agreements, it has the chance to give startups a similar legal framework abroad that they rely on domestically. This is critically important for smaller companies looking to effectively compete in an increasingly global ecosystem. While Congress still has the ability to update that digital legal framework as it sees fit, the inclusion of digital trade protections in trade agreements gives startups the certainty they need to compete globally.
TLDR: An appeals court is currently considering whether Internet platforms can be held liable when their users are accused of trademark infringement. Redbubble was accused of direct trademark infringement based on the accusation that its users were selling infringing Ohio State products on the platform. A trial court concluded that Redbubble should not be liable in this circumstance, and Engine filed a brief in support of Redbubble’s position on appeal.
The Big Story: New Senate privacy bill misses the mark for startups. A group of Senate Democrats this week unveiled a data privacy bill that would codify heavy-handed rules governing how companies collect, store, and utilize consumer data and could open companies up to bad faith lawsuits, creating unmanageable costs for startups.
The Big Story: FCC proposes unlicensed spectrum boost. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced a proposal this week to reallocate spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use, a move that would open up the airwaves for more Wi-Fi. The 5.9 GHz band is currently reserved for vehicle-to-vehicle communications but has largely been unused for its intended purpose. Chairman Pai’s proposal would reallocate the lower 45 MHz for unlicensed use while setting the upper 40 MHz aside for vehicle safety purposes.
Salt Lake City is the original home of Mobius Audio, a music-focused startup that is using the latest technology to create a multidimensional sound platform for recording artists while teaching them to function as their own businesses. Carter Pochynok, the founder of Mobius, is using his background in music to guide the emerging company through its seed funding stage as it looks to establish itself on an international scale. We recently caught up with Carter to discuss his policy concerns, Mobius’ work and future, and what lawmakers can do to better support U.S. entrepreneurs.
TLDR: The Supreme Court last week took up a copyright case and is hopefully poised to resolve issues about the copyrightability and permissible use of software interfaces next year. The case in question arose from a long-running dispute between Oracle and Google about one type of software interface—application programming interfaces, or APIs. Without the Supreme Court’s intervention, there is a risk that companies will copyright APIs or other interfaces, and then be able to prevent other companies from using them without paying for a license.
Last week, Engine and the Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in response to the agency’s call for comments on patenting artificial intelligence inventions. The USPTO is collecting information to determine “whether further guidance is needed to promote the predictability and reliability of patenting [AI] inventions and to ensure that appropriate patent protection incentives are in place to encourage further innovation in and around this critical area.”
Consumer privacy has been on the minds of companies, regulators, and consumers in the wake of high-profile privacy missteps by major Internet companies and sweeping new privacy rules in Europe. While the U.S. approaches consumer privacy law on a sector-by-sector basis, states are using the momentum around the consumer privacy debate to pass their own varying — and sometimes conflicting — laws.
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