Our Thoughts
Insights on technology policy and the app economy

ACT shares research, analysis and commentary on the issues shaping the connected technology ecosystem. From emerging technologies to evolving policy frameworks, our insights are designed to inform, explain and support the work of small and medium-sized technology companies.
Our Thoughts
Insights on technology policy and the app economy
ACT shares research, analysis and commentary on the issues shaping the connected technology ecosystem. From emerging technologies to evolving policy frameworks, our insights are designed to inform, explain and support the work of small and medium-sized technology companies.

Policy blog and analysis
Explore our latest blog posts covering key developments in technology policy, industry trends and the evolving app economy.
- The Innovation Act and the Procurement Act: A Good Start, Not Yet the Finish Line
On 9 September, the Commission unveiled two files that startups have been waiting years for: the European Innovation Act and the Public Procurement Act. Alongside them came a third, quieter proposal, a Recommendation on…
- AICOA is DMA in Translation
Think AICOA won’t result in degraded products and services? Think again. Graham Dufault compares language and legal implications of provisions in AICOA to provisions in DMA and breaks down what we can learn from the European Unions' experiment. Where AICOA departs from the DMA, it departs by going further. In both cases, degradation is not a risk that careful implementation might avoid; it is the mechanism. Consumers are absorbing the higher costs directly. And small business developers are absorbing them twice — once as users of the digital platforms, and again as the firms least able to overcome a consumer’s rational new hesitance to install software from a name they don’t recognize. U.S. small tech businesses and our digital economy can't afford to make the same mistakes.
- Second Thoughts: Key Jurisdictions Smarten Up on DMA
For more than a decade, experts have described a “Brussels Effect,” in which jurisdictions worldwide follow the European Union’s (EU) lead on government intervention. In recent years in tech…
Expert conversations in our technology policy podcast
Listen to conversations exploring technology policy, innovation and the issues shaping the wider technology ecosystem.
- Global Encryption Day – 21 October 2026
Encryption is a critical tool developers and companies of all sizes use to protect their users’ most sensitive data, but proposals that call for mandated back doors to encryption threaten those protections. For Global Encryption Day, 21 October 2026, we convened a panel of experts to talk through the current global state of encryption and why it's so important for privacy and security.
- Tech Swamp – Episode 10
- Tech Swamp – Episode 9