As founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), recognized as the world's top think tank for science and technology policy, Robert D. Atkinson leads a prolific team of policy analysts and fellows that is successfully shaping the debate and setting the agenda on a host of critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy.

He is an internationally recognized scholar and a widely published author whom The New Republic has named one of the "three most important thinkers about innovation," Washingtonian Magazine has called a‚ "tech titan," Government Technology Magazine has judged to be one of the 25 top "doers, dreamers and drivers of information technology," and the Wharton Business School has given the "Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award."

As a respected policy expert and commentator, Robert has testified numerous times before the US Senate and House of Representatives, and he appears frequently on news and public-affairs programs. Among others, these appearances have included interviews on the BBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, and NBC Nightly News.

Robert holds a PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he was awarded the prestigious Joseph E. Pogue Fellowship. He earned his master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 2014.