While Professor Ed Felten, director of the Center for Information Technology Policy and the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs, has spent most of his time in academia, he has also done two stints in government policymaking roles, including as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Obama White House.

In this talk, Felten discusses how policy questions can inform what academics do, as well as how people in industry think about products and technical strategies. Felten’s interest is in integrating technical and non-technical thinking. Aaron Kleiner, director of Industry Assurance and Policy Advocacy for Microsoft, also joins the conversation to talk about Microsoft's activities.

Professor Felten addressed the Spring 2018 conference of UIDP, an organization that brings companies and universities together to improve academic-industry collaborations. The four-day event was co-hosted in Silicon Valley by Princeton's Office of Corporate Engagement and Foundation Relations and Cisco and was the largest ever UIDP meeting. More than 300 attended to examine “Building U-I Partnerships in the Technology Ecosystem.”

The conversation was moderated by Chip Hay of Princeton's corporate engagement team.