GeoTech - 2024 Forum

The Geopolitics of Technology Forum is being co-hosted by the Yale Chapter of the Geopolitics of Technology Initiative, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Next Generation Diplomacy in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit, the Special Competitive Studies Project, the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy, the NobleReach Foundation, Beacon Global Strategies, and the Yale Schmidt Program on AI, Emerging Tech, and National Power on April 11 and 12. The Forum will bring top students with STEM and foreign policy backgrounds from across the country to DC to explore the intersection of technology and international relations. The inaugural topic is “Tech Cooperation and Competition in the Indo-Pacific.” The conference will feature numerous speakers from the US government, tech firms, and think tanks, as well as a Career Fair with recruiters from government agencies, companies, and nonprofits in tech and national security.

The Forum will begin on Thursday, April 11 with the Career Fair, which will be from 3:30 to 5:30 pm EST at the Shaw Ballroom of Courtyard by Marriott Washington Downtown/Convention Center (901 L St NW, Washington, DC 20001). All attendees’ resumes will be sent to the organizations at the Career Fair. The main conference will be on Friday, April 12 from 8 am to around 5:30 pm at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036).

If you're interested in attending the Career Fair on April 11, all you need to do is fill out the form below. If you would like to attend the conference as well on April 12 and do not need housing/travel covered, please fill out the form AND wait for confirmation from our side as we have very limited spots available. If you're representing an organization seeking to have a table at the Career Fair, please let us know in the form below, and we will send you a confirmation email once we confirm that we can include your group. Set-up will be from 3 to 3:30 pm and breakdown/clean-up will be from 5:30 to 6 pm.

The confirmed organizations so far at the Career Fair are the U.S. State Department, the Defense Innovation Unit (from the U.S. Department of Defense), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Palantir, Scale AI, Exiger, 3rd Eye, Rhombus Power, the Special Competitive Studies Project, the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Beacon Global Strategies, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s National Security Innovation Base Program, the NobleReach Foundation, and the RAND Technology and Security Policy Center.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

Ylli Bajraktari

President and CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project and former Chief of Staff to the National Security Advisor

Doug Beck

Director, Defense Innovation Unit and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense

Anna Shpitsberg

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Transformation at the U.S. Department of State

Dr. Seth Center

Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology at the State Department

Arun Gupta

CEO of the NobleReach Foundation and Author of "Venture Meets Mission"

Agenda on April 12

7:45 - 8:15: Registration

8:15 - 8:25: Opening Remarks by Rukmini Bannerjee and Pranav Pattatathunaduvil

8:25 - 8:40: Keynote by Ylli Bajraktari (CEO of SCSP)

8:45 - 9:35: Panel on AUKUS and the Defense Industrial Base

Dr. Charles Edel (moderator), Senior Adviser and Australia Chair at CSIS
Mark Montgomery, Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation Senior Director and Senior Fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Laura Farhall, Minister Counsellor Defence Acquisition and Technology in the British Defence Staff
Dr. Nishank Motwani, Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute

9:35 - 9:45: Coffee Break

9:45 - 10:35: Panel on Scaling and Securing Clean Energy in the Indo-Pacific

Nimita Uberoi (moderator), Former Climate & Energy Policy Advisor at the White House
David Lin, Senior Director for Future Technology Platforms at SCSP
Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of the Ambassador Alfred J. Hoffman Center for Critical Minerals Strategy at SAFE
Omar Ben Halim, Strategy Advisor at the U.S. Development Finance Corporation
Aily Zhang, Geopolitical Strategist at Lazard

10:35 - 10:45: Coffee Break

10:45 - 11:00: Keynote by Arun Gupta (CEO of NobleReach Foundation)

11:05 - 11:55: Panel on the Future of AI in the US and China

Ngor Luong (moderator), Senior Research Analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology
Saif Khan, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for Critical and Emerging Technologies
Dr. PJ Maykish, Senior Advisor at SCSP and former Director for Technology Competition at the National Security Council
Will Gamble, Director and Associate General Counsel (Federal) at Scale AI

11:55 - 12:40: Lunch

12:40 - 12:55: Keynote by Anna Shpitsberg (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Transformation)

1:00 - 1:30: Fireside Chat with Dr. Seth Center (Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Tech at State)

1:35 - 2:25: Panel on Semiconductor Competition in the Indo-Pacific

Jordan Schneider (moderator), Founder of the ChinaTalk Podcast/Newsletter and Adjunct Fellow at the Technology & National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security
Luisa Metz (moderator), Head of the Yale Policy Institute’s Technology Policy Center
Benjamin Schwartz, Director of National Security at the CHIPS Program Office
Ivan Kanapathy, Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies, former Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia and Deputy Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council
Nicholas Montella, Director of Global Government Affairs at TSMC

2:25 - 2:40: Coffee Break

2:40 - 3:30: Panel on the Promise and Peril of Biotechnology

Kate Carline (moderator), Co-Director of the Geopolitics of Technology Initiative
Abby Kukura, Director for Future Technology Platforms at SCSP
Dr. Keeley Mui, Senior Policy Advisor at the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology
Yuanyuan Milligan, Team Lead for Biopharma at the Department of Commerce

3:35 - 4:05: China and Taiwan Trip Briefing by the Yale Jackson School

4:10 - 5:00: Simultaneous Panels on Achieving the Quad’s Tech Potential and Strengthening Connectivity in the Indo-Pacific

Quad:
- - Channing Lee (moderator), Associate Director for Foreign Policy at the Special Competitive Studies Project
  - Vikram Singh, Senior Advisor to US Institute of Peace's Asia Program and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia
  - Adam Leslie, Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's DC office and founder of Levenhall
  - Dr. William Chou, Japan Chair fellow at the Hudson Institute
Connectivity:
- - Jon Pelson (moderator), Chief Commercial Officer of Rampart Communications and Author of "Wireless Wars”
  - Danielle Agress, Indo-Pacific Manager for Connectivity and Global Connectivity Sector Lead at the US Trade and Development Agency
  - Ian Eishen, Director for Global Public Sector at Aalyria
  - Trisha Ray, Associate Director & Resident Fellow at Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center