Hacking Policy, Recommendations from a Transatlantic Perspective

In an era of rapid technological change and relentless innovation, how do we best structure the dialogue between startups, policymakers and regulators in a way that allows entrepreneurs to develop innovative goods and services while achieving public policy objectives?

Last September, as part of the Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley (SEC2SV) mission, Dell and Mind the Bridge brought together drivers and shapers of the startup ecosystem from both sides of the Atlantic in San Francisco to do exactly that: to “hack” some of the most pressing policy issues faced by global innovators and entrepreneurs.

Drawing on their transatlantic experience and expertise, teams hacked and pitched solutions for policies in the areas of Energy, Enterprise Data Transfers, Fintech, Open Data, Smart Cities, and Urban & Rural Symbiosis.

The winning solution was around procurement policy for smart cities. The team recommended for cities to develop a reverse process for their Requests for Proposal when procuring technology solutions in the autonomous driving space. This aligns a city’s innovation cycle to innovation cycles in the private sector and renders the tendering process more agile and participative while keeping public spaces up to date and secure.

Other recommendations included:

* creating an Artificial Intelligence-based compliance check for fintech startups

* building open data repositories from the city level up and awarding tax credits to those contributing

* for privacy regulators to issue guidance for startups of “black-listed” practices under privacy rules and to develop regulatory
sandboxes

* using the single European energy market to build awareness around what electrical vehicles mean for infrastructure

* Joining rural and urban strengths to identify an innovation area a city wants to excel in, and back it by investing and reforming from policy to infrastructure and education

Check out the full report on the transatlantic recommendations and how they came about.