Robert Atkinson

Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. He is also author of the State New Economy Index series and the book, The Past And Future Of America's Economy: Long Waves Of Innovation That Power Cycles Of Growth. Before starting ITIF, Dr. Atkinson was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and Director of PPI's Technology & New Economy Project. While at PPI he wrote numerous research reports on technology and innovation policy.

Previously Dr. Atkinson served as the first Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, a public-private partnership including as members the Governor, legislative leaders, and corporate and labor leaders. Prior to that he was Project Director at the former Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. While at OTA, he directed The Technological Reshaping of Metropolitan America, a seminal report examining the impact of the information technology revolution on America's urban areas.

He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.