Published: Jan. 28, 2015

The Silicon Flatirons Center on Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary as it holds its “Digital Broadband Migration Conference: First Principles for a Twenty-First Century Innovation Policy,” on February 8-9, 2015, at the Wolf Law Building on the CU-Boulder campus.

Every year, the Silicon Flatirons Center holds the Digital Broadband Migration conference.  Last year, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called this conference “a place where law, policy, and entrepreneurship come together to discuss the present and plot the future. That is a unique contribution to our national dialogue.”  Previously, Internet pioneer Vint Cerf deemed this conference “the Davos of telecom.”  At this year’s conference, an impressive group of speakers, including FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, will discuss the first principles for innovation policy.  In particular, the panelists will consider three policy dimensions that are increasingly receiving attention:  the connections between innovation and competition, the importance of interoperability and interconnection, and the jurisprudence for innovation.

“The Silicon Flatirons’ Digital Broadband Migration conference is a crowning achievement for the Center,” said Phil Weiser, Colorado Law Dean and the Founder and Executive Director of the Center.  “The concept of ‘network neutrality,’ which was born and debated here first as an academic idea, is now a core policy commitment with bipartisan support.  As we look ahead toward future innovation policy challenges, this year’s conference will bring together a special range of speakers and participants to discuss cutting edge policy proposals.”

In addition to Wheeler and Ramirez, the conference will feature Federal Trade Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Director Howard Shelanski, the General Counsels from the FCC and FTC, top executives from companies like Level 3 Communications, Verizon, Brighthouse Networks, leading consumer advocates, and scholars from around the world.

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