This session will consider ways in which the government can act as a guide to help U.S. tech companies navigate the complex and time-consuming process of qualifying for a government contract.

(1) the main challenges for startups that are seeking to secure a government contract, (2) how the government can help startups survive the complex and often brutal process of qualifying for a government contract, (3) whether the government’s approach makes sense from the private sector perspective, and if not, (4) how the government can better assist startups who are navigating this process.

This session will explore opportunities for more and better information sharing between the public and private sectors to support domestic innovation, including through the use of councils or other mechanisms for timely exchanging information about government needs and sources of capital and private sector capabilities.

This session will explore the myriad ways the U.S. government can help to fund domestic innovation through, by way of example, government VC, government funding through DoD and USIC, and co-investment opportunities.

This session will explore whether and how different approaches to due diligence, risk tolerance, and expected returns may impact public-private co-investment opportunities, and ways to bridge those differences moving forward.

This session will consider whether the government’s preferred approach to compliance-related engagement with the private sector actually makes sense for the private sector. This session also will consider how the public and private sectors can better share information about compliance risks, challenges, and potential solutions, as well as private sector concerns that might hinder this information exchange or make it less palatable.

This session will consider the possible surge in national security-related compliance enforcement and the implications of ICTS review, and explore ways that U.S. companies can navigate enhanced compliance and due diligence scrutiny. This session also will consider the broader implications of such a surge for the U.S. tech industry, as well as ways that regulators and policymakers can avoid giving a competitive advantage to foreign businesses that are not subject to the same stringent regulations as U.S. companies. Finally, this session will explore the foreign policy agenda of the Biden Administration and Congress, and consider how other countries are reacting to the push for economic decoupling.