CEI’s Center for Technology and Innovation strives to keep the regulatory state from encroaching upon frontier industries and ensure that 21st century technologies are not shackled by 20th century regulations. We advance market discipline as superior to regulatory intervention; we legitimize market processes and forestall governmental restrictions on wealth creation. Our overarching goal is to persuade the public and policy makers that innovation tends to make the world safer, healthier, and happier, and that government regulation and intervention tend to do the opposite. Despite spending growth and entitlement paralysis, when we ignore regulation, we ignore the bulk of the government’s ability to interfere with and hamper free enterprise. Therefore, we seek to extend the institutions of liberty, such as property rights and contract, without which free markets cannot function effectively.
Innovation Issue Areas
Featured Posts

City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…

City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…

Blog
Net neutrality is political predation
It’s fitting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chose to dig up the net neutrality corpse just before Halloween. Now, our elected representatives need to…
Studies
A Free Market Solution for Drug Distribution
Executive summary This paper describes and explains the function of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) in the American health care economy. PBMs are private businesses that…
FTC’s Subscription Deception
Proposed Negative Option Rule has no opt-out from bureaucratic overreach Introduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a Negative* Option Rule Notice of…
Unauthorized and Unprepared: Refocusing the CDC after COVID-19
Executive Summary What This Paper Covers The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s preeminent public health agency, has acknowledged that it failed badly…
Blog
Here we go again: FCC tries to bring back failed ‘net neutrality’ regulation
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposed rulemaking to apply Title II of the Communications Act and common carrier regulation once again…
Former NHTSA administrator nominee still serving as acting administrator, raising serious issues
On May 30, President Joe Biden withdrew the nomination of Ann Carlson to be the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Wall Street Journal agrees with CEI, opposes Railway Safety Act
In an editorial today, the Wall Street Journal joined with many other voices, including Bloomberg, National Review, and a coalition led…
News
FTC antitrust lawsuit against Amazon risks harming American consumers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 states filed a lawsuit today in federal court alleging antitrust violations by Amazon. The lawsuit seeks the…
Congressional Efforts to Regulate PBMs Risk Higher Drug Costs, Worse Health Outcomes for Patients
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are private businesses that developed in the free market to manage prescription drug benefits for health insurance plan sponsors. Nearly all…
DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Would Protect Competing Search Engines, Not Consumers
This week, the trial resulting from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against Google parent company Alphabet begins in a Washington, DC courtroom.
Op-Eds
National Review
Restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers Could Decrease Competition and Increase Drug Costs
Congress is considering multiple bills that aim to restrict the ability of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate discounts and rebates and to require the PBMs…
Wall Street Journal
Court to FDA: Stop Playing Doctor
The Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceuticals, but it has no business playing doctor and giving you medical advice. That’s the message of a Sept.
Forbes
DC Politicians Roll Out The Red Carpet For Big Tech At AI Meeting
America’s tech luminaries gathered in Washington, D.C. this week, ostensibly to “educate” senators on the nuances of artificial intelligence. The convening, referred to as an…
Staff & Scholars

James Broughel
Senior Fellow
- Deregulation
- Energy and Environment
- Innovation

Gregory Conko
Senior Fellow
- Health and Safety
- Healthcare
- Innovation

Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation

Paul Jossey
Adjunct Fellow
- Innovation

Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance

Kent Lassman
President and CEO
- Capitalism
- Deregulation
- Innovation

Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms

Ryan Radia
Research Fellow and Regulatory Counsel
- Intellectual Property
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
- Privacy and Cybersecurity

Alex Reinauer
Research Fellow
- Innovation
- Tech and Telecom

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Joel Zinberg
Senior Fellow
- Health and Safety
- Healthcare
- Medicines and Medical Devices