LeadershIP 2026

March 25, 2026 • 9:00 am – 5:00 pm EDT

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Please join CSIS LeadershIP on March 25 for LeadershIP 2026, the premier conference on intellectual property (IP), innovation, and national security policy. This year’s program will feature a conversation with Representative Deborah Ross (D-NC), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Coke Morgan Stewart, Deputy Director of the USPTO, along with remarks from Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), and other leading policymakers and industry experts.

In this era of great power competition, technology and innovation have never been more critical. Yet the policies that promote innovation and technology leadership are often misunderstood. Secure IP rights incentivize the investment and risk-taking required to innovate in a broad range of critical industries, from semiconductors to artificial intelligence (AI) to pharmaceuticals. Healthy market competition drives innovation, as companies vie to offer superior products and services to their customers. How can these core pillars of innovation be harnessed to ensure our economic and national security?

Join experts, policymakers, and industry leaders to analyze and debate the pressing topics in IP, innovation, and national security policy - including the geopolitical competition for technology leadership, innovation in critical and emerging technologies such as AI, biotechnologies, and integrated communication and networking technologies, and the intersection of IP and competition policy with economic and national security.

Learn more about speakers here.

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.

Agenda

Registration and Breakfast 

8:30 am

Welcoming Remarks

9:00 am

Navin Girishankar, President, Economic Security and Technology Department, CSIS

Dr. Kirti Gupta, Executive Director, LeadershIP; Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

LeadershIP 2026: On the Horizon

9:15 am

This opening discussion will feature the leaders of the CSIS LeadershIP program outlining their recent work and key priorities for the year ahead. Against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition and rapid technological change, the panel will highlight emerging challenges at the intersection of IP, innovation, and national security, and preview the policy debates shaping the future of U.S. technology leadership.

Navin Girishankar, President, Economic Security and Technology Department, CSIS

Dr. Kirti Gupta, Executive Director, LeadershIP; Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Hon. Dr. Walter G. Copan, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Hon. Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Dr. Sujai Shivakumar, Director and Senior Fellow, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Panel I: US Innovation and IP Policy: Navigating and Adapting to Global Trends

9:45 am

Global developments, such as China’s specialized IP courts and the EU’s new UPC, are reshaping competition for innovation by strengthening IP enforcement and attracting high-value R&D. As these regimes gain influence, the United States risks losing its longstanding leadership in IP and advanced technologies. This panel examines why the U.S. needs a modern innovation policy and what we can learn from the initiatives of the current administration.

Hon. Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Steve Akerley, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Global Head of Litigation, InterDigital

Mark Cohen, Senior Technology Fellow, Asia Society of Northern California; Edison Fellow, University of Akron School of Law

Dr. Francesca Ferrari, Professor, University of Insubria

Judge Paul R. Michel, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Ret)

Break

10:45 am

Protecting Innovation in Technology

11:00 am

A discussion with Prof. Jonathan Barnett on his research on IP and antitrust in technology and content markets that draws together insights across law, economics, and innovation policy. The discussion will explore these findings, examine their implications for current regulatory approaches, and consider how they might reshape the future of competition policy.

Prof. Jonathan Barnett, Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law, University of Southern California

Hon. Christine Wilson, Partner, Freshfields

Lunch

11:45 am

Panel II: Innovation in the U.S. Biotech Industry: Recent Federal Policies

12:45 pm

The U.S. biopharmaceutical sector is confronting a rapidly evolving policy landscape shaped by renewed discussions of march-in rights, royalty-sharing, and the recent Drug Pricing Executive Order. These overlapping measures carry significant implications for investment incentives, R&D pipelines, and the long-term competitiveness of American life-science innovation. This panel assesses their potential impacts and explore strategies for sustaining breakthrough innovation.

Hon. Dr. Walter G. Copan, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Tonya L. Combs, Sr. Vice President – General Patent Counsel, Eli Lilly and Company

Christian Smolizza, Chief Patent Counsel Oncology, VP & Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer Inc.

Tim Marquart, Senior Associate General Counsel - IP, Gilead Sciences

Break

1:45 pm

Panel III: The AI and Copyright Debate: The New Creative Frontier

2:00 pm

As AI reshapes how creative works are produced, protected, and monetized, copyright law is being pushed into uncharted territory. This panel examines the legal, economic, and policy challenges at the center of the debate—from training-data and fair-use questions to the market impacts of AI-generated content—and how to balance incentives for creators with the need to sustain U.S. technological leadership in AI.

Dr. Arun Sundararajan, Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship, New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business

Angela Dunning, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb

Annette Hurst, Partner and Global AI Practice Lead, Orrick

Kevin Madigan, Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs, Copyright Alliance

Prof. Robert Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professor of Law, UC Berkeley Law; Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology

Break

3:00 pm

Panel IV: The Streaming Era: The New Intersection of IP, Antitrust, and Standards

3:15 pm

The explosive growth of video streaming has propelled video coding standards into the center of global standard essential patent (SEP) disputes. Evolving licensing models, competing patent pools, and expanding demands on platforms, devices, and cloud services have intensified litigation and newer proprietary standards drawn heightened antitrust scrutiny across jurisdictions. This panel examines the evolving landscape at the intersection of IP and competition policy.

Dr. Kirti Gupta, Executive Director, LeadershIP; Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Steve Jedlinski, Chief Legal Officer, Sisvel; President, Sisvel US

Dina Kallay, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International, Policy and Appellate, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Kyle Mach, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell

Fireside Chat with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC)

4:15 pm

Representative Deborah Ross (D-NC) joins LeadershIP for a fireside conversation on the future of U.S. patent policy and its relationship to U.S. national and economic security. As a representative of North Carolina’s Research Triangle—one of the nation’s leading innovation hubs—the conversation will explore the relationship between IP and innovation, along with ongoing legislative efforts.

Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC), Member, House Judiciary Committee

Dr. Kirti Gupta, Executive Director, LeadershIP; Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Fireside Chat with USTPO Deputy Director Coke Stewart

4:30 pm

Coke Morgan Stewart, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, joins LeadershIP for a fireside conversation on the U.S. IP system and innovation leadership with former Director Hon. Andrei Iancu.

Coke Morgan Stewart, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Hon. Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

*Note: This discussion will not be livestreamed and will be in-person only