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**The Most Important Think Tanks for Tech to Know**

The Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institute? They're the old guard. A different generation of organizations with deep ties to Silicon Valley is steering conversations around tech regulation, government spending, and immigration.

By Julia Black

Mar 8, 2025, 6:00am PST

In the new Trump era, Washington and Silicon Valley are increasingly merged together, with scores of the top tech talent decamping for the capital. And in this upended landscape, a new wave of think tanks has emerged as a critical player. Many of them have direct ties to tech through funding and board members, and all are assembling research and policy proposals that would deeply affect the tech industry in areas like artificial intelligence development, government spending, and energy infrastructure.

Knowing what these groups are thinking can be a useful way to gauge where the country could be headed, so we asked Washington insiders to identify the next generation of think tanks poised to have the most influence on technology policy in the coming years.

**Institute for Progress**

Founded: 2022

Policy Focus: AI, infrastructure, alternative energy

Political Leaning: Nonpartisan

Tech Ties: Funding from the Collison brothers, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eric Schmidt

Progress studies is an intellectual movement developed in 2019 by economist Tyler Cowen and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison that's dedicated to accelerating technological progress in a way that benefits humanity. The Institute for Progress is the official policy arm of that movement. The group aims to identify areas where reducing regulation can accelerate technological progress, from expediting clinical trials for pharmaceutical development to reforming environmental permitting processes.

One of the group's biggest initiatives this year will be Compute in America, a new project encouraging government involvement in the construction of new AI data centers. Alec Stapp, the institute's co-CEO, argues this isn't just about granting the private sector's wish list. "It's also: What should the government ask in return? We think that higher security standards—primarily cybersecurity standards—at the AI data centers is what [it] should demand in return."

**Foundation for American Innovation**

Founded: 2014

Policy Focus: U.S.-China relations, government efficiency, deregulation

Political Leaning: Republican

Tech Ties: Founders Fund's Mike Solana is a current board member and former board members include Anduril's Trae Stephens and Michael Kratsios, a Scale AI executive nominated by President Donald Trump to run the Office of Science and Technology Policy

This group, which wants to see the government modernized partly with better technology, was founded as the Lincoln Network in 2014 but rebranded to the Foundation for American Innovation in 2023 to more clearly convey its mission to build a "better, freer, and more abundant future." True to its name, the group gravitates toward developing policies that can support ideas like Trump's "freedom cities" initiative and Boom Supersonic's efforts to develop supersonic planes. This year, it plans to keep targeting the red tape it believes is hindering the development of expensive infrastructure such as data centers and nuclear plants. National security is also a priority. When it comes to keeping up with China's technological advances, Samuel Hammond, the foundation's chief economist, characterized the organization's stance as "on the hawkish end."

**Economic Innovation Group**

Founded: 2015

Policy Focus: Small business regulation, government spending

Political Leaning: Bipartisan

Tech Ties: The Sean Parker-founded group has funding from Dustin Moskovitz's Open Philanthropy and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Launched as a response to the 2008 financial crisis by Sean Parker, the Economic Innovation Group makes the argument that startup growth can be a meaningful way to alleviate poverty—and public reliance on government support. One of its signature achievements was helping to craft the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This legislation officially created Opportunity Zones, which allow investors to invest in economically distressed areas in exchange for reductions in federal capital gains taxes. While the group has yet to clearly establish its relationship with the Trump administration, it will likely find common ground with initiatives like Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency as it targets government transfer programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and veterans benefits.

**Niskanen Center**

Founded: 2014

Top Issues: Clean energy, housing development, skilled immigration

Political Leaning: Bipartisan

Tech Ties: Jennifer Pahlka, the Code for America founder and a former U.S. deputy chief technology officer, is a senior fellow

The Niskanen Center has undergone several evolutions since its start, but today it is best known for its willingness to play to both sides of the political aisle. "A lot of think tanks align themselves with these outdated, ossified notions of left and right. Niskanen doesn't feel beholden to that," said Ted Gayer, the organization's president, who joined Niskanen from the Brookings Institution in 2022. Last year, the group picked up on some familiar buzzwords and announced its Abundance and Dynamism initiative: a drive to fix shortages of resources like energy infrastructure, which the think tank blames on too much government regulation. This year, Niskanen will also likely weigh in on government hiring reform and increasing child tax credits, as well as bring its pro stance on skilled immigration to the H-1B visa debate.

**Coin Center**

Founded: 2014

Top Issues: Cryptocurrency tax reform, sanctions reform, clarifying securities and commodities law

Political Leaning: Republican

Tech Ties: Xapo Bank founder Wences Casares and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan sit on the board

When the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee held a hearing on decentralized finance in September, Coin Center Director of Research Peter Van Valkenburgh took the witness stand to decry what he called “unlawful and unconstitutional intrusions" by regulatory agencies. This combative approach defined Coin Center's stance during the Joe Biden years, a time when the organization regularly filed lawsuits against regulators on behalf of the crypto industry. Obviously, the landscape has since changed dramatically. Coin Center views the pro-crypto Trump administration as an ally rather than an enemy and seeks to keep the momentum going on crypto-friendly policies. "The iron doesn't get much hotter than this," Van Valkenburgh posted on X in December.

Julia Black covers the nexus of tech, media, politics, and culture for The Weekend section.