a16z Podcast

a16z Podcast: Innovation and Regulation — What Happens When Policy Lags Behind Technology?

Fred Upton and Greg Waldon

Posted July 21, 2015

 

Regulation always lags behind technology, but by 80-plus years?! U.S. Representatives Fred Upton and Greg Walden — of the Energy and Commerce Committee including the subcommittee on Communications and Technology that oversees almost every technology — join this segment of the a16z podcast to discuss what government can do to help (or hurt) innovation.

We discuss the Telecommunications Act, originally passed in 1934 and revised in 1996 (before the internet, computing, and especially mobile became ubiquitous!); the conversion from analog to digital; what constitutes medical devices (is an iPad a medical device?) — as well as healthcare and the 21st Century Cures Act, with its implications for patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers looking for the next breakthrough in medicine.

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The a16z Podcast discusses the most important ideas within technology with the people building it. Each episode aims to put listeners ahead of the curve, covering topics like AI, energy, genomics, space, and more.

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