OTI Announces the Launch of TechCongress

WASHINGTON, DC — The Open
Technology Institute at New America (OTI) is excited to announce the launch of
TechCongress, a new nonpartisan fellowship program that will place
technologists in Congressional offices to inject greater technical expertise
into the policymaking process. Led by Travis Moore, a former legislative
and operations director in the office of former Rep. Henry Waxman, TechCongress is expected to begin placing
fellows on the Hill in early 2016. TechCongress is the first of several new projects
coming from OTI that are aimed at bridging the divide between the tech and
policy communities. OTI’s work in this area is made possible in part by a
philanthropic seed investment from entrepreneur and investor Reid Hoffman and
by additional partners soon to be confirmed.

It is a tough challenge for the government to keep up with
the rapid pace of technological change, a challenge that is compounded by a
lack of technology expertise to inform policymaking on complex issues like
cybersecurity and digital copyright. It has been twenty years since the
elimination of the Office of Technology Assessment, which provided independent
scientific and technical expertise to Congress, and there has not been a
program to fill that important knowledge gap even as the need for such a
resource has grown exponentially. There have been many recent efforts to
address the tech deficit at a variety of levels in government — from
Executive Branch initiatives like the US Digital Service, 18F, and the
Presidential Innovation Fellowship at the federal level to Code for America at
the municipal level — but none have been designed to directly address the
needs of Congress. TechCongress aims to fill the gap with its own Congressional
Innovation Fellowship, starting with at least three fellows in 2016 and more
expected for 2017.

The following quote can be attributed to Travis Moore,
who will serve as the Director of TechCongress at the Open Technology
Institute:

As a Congressional staffer, there were times when I didn’t
feel equipped to make sense of tough technical questions and sort through
competing voices from interest groups. Staffers do the best they can with
limited resources, but I experienced the tech deficit first-hand. On
other issues — health, science, defense — there are well established programs
to bring in outside expertise to help fill knowledge gaps. Congress is
struggling to keep up with technology in part because it doesn’t have a
pipeline for tech talent. TechCongress will change that.

The following quote can be attributed to Kevin Bankston,
Director of the Open Technology Institute:

Just like the pace of technological change itself, the
number and complexity of tough tech issues facing policymakers is increasing
exponentially. For our elected officials to to be able to keep up with the
innovation explosion and tackle all of the new challenges that the future has
in store for us, they’re going to need help innovating themselves, and that’s
where TechCongress comes in. We at OTI are proud and excited to be building
what we hope will be a long-lasting bridge between the tech and policy
communities that will give Congress the technical expertise it needs to face
the 21st century with confidence.