R. David Edelman

Founder & Director, Project on Technology, the Economy, and National Security, MIT | Former White House Tech Advisor

Dr. R. David Edelman is one of the world’s leading authorities on the geopolitics of technology and the new landscape of corporate risk, helping U.S. Presidents, CEOs, and MIT’s best-and-brightest glimpse into the future and make sense of what they see. Edelman combines uncanny insights with a unique clarity in explaining what’s next for our world —all with a trained comedian’s wit and energy that has led venues to invite him back year after year.

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A Yale- and Oxford-educated technologist, investor, and former policymaker now based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his insights and analysis have appeared in print in The New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the FT, Der Spiegel, WIRED, Fast Company, and Fortune, and in broadcast on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC, and NPR.

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As a private venture investor, board member, and trusted advisor to top CEOs, he is known for spotting and betting on winning technologies years before the crowd — from AI before ChatGPT to breath diagnostics before COVID, grid enhancements before climate legislation and fusion energy before tech giants rushed in. This prescience landed him a role as a long-standing judge for the Forbes AI 50 List, which recognizes standout companies making the most interesting and effective use of artificial technology. He also is the founder and managing partner of Catalyst•Wayfare, a leading geopolitical advisory firm for breakthrough technology firms, and previously built the public-sector and global strategy teams at multi-billion-dollar startups.

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In government, Edelman served for over six years in the Obama White House, including as Special Assistant to the President for Economic & Technology Policy on the National Economic Council, Director for Cybersecurity on the National Security Council, and Senior Advisor in the Office of Science & Technology Policy. When appointed, he was the youngest-ever Director in the sixty-year history of the NSC. In 2014, during his role as a Senior Advisor, Edelman co-authored the United States' first Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Strategy. He continued his work in the White House as a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team in 2020. Prior to the White House, he began his career at the State Department in the George W. Bush Administration as a founding member of the Department’s Office of Cyber Affairs, ultimately serving as the lead U.S. negotiator on cybersecurity and digital economy matters at the United Nations and later, the G-20.

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In academia, Edelman is currently the IPRI Distinguished Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he founded the Project on Technology, the Economy, and National Security, teaches a perennially oversubscribed course on the public policy of technology, and holds dual appointments at the Computer Science & AI Lab (CSAIL) and Center for International Studies.

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Edelman’s first book, Rethinking Cyber Warfare: The International Relations of Digital Disruption, is an instant bestseller that debuted at #1 on Amazon. As cyberattacks become increasingly common components of arsenals around the globe, Rethinking Cyber Warfare provides the technological and historical context necessary to better understand and prepare for one of the most under explored threats to international security.

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He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a non-resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.

Topics

The Fragile Frontier: Navigating the Geopolitics of Our Technological World

Corporations as casualties of great-power cyber war. Traders making millions from hackable heart valves. Careers ended on emails leaked by a spy chief a world away. It sounds like science fiction — but it’s our present: a world where technology and geopolitics are shaping one another to dictate war and peace, fortunes and failures. In this riveting talk, Dr. Edelman takes audiences up close to the real flash points driving the future of technology from the boardroom to the White House Situation Room, revealing some of the critical fault lines in our physical and digital worlds and the immense opportunities taking shape for capital — and capitols. Drawing from the real-life experiences of hundreds of companies who have navigated threats from competitors, criminals, and governments, this talk will help executives and enterprises stay ahead of the curve and where to look to understand what’s next for our fast-changing world.

A Field Guide to the Future: AI & Tech Trends Transforming Business

Artificial intelligence (AI) captures headlines nearly every day. But how well do you understand what the technology is, what opportunities it presents, and what challenges might lurk around the corner? In this highly practical “field guide,” Dr. Edelman helps audiences make sense of the commercial revolutions in AI, robotics, VR and more transforming individual firms and upending entire industries. With a unique ability to explain and empower audiences at every level of tech fluency, he explains in concrete, accessible terms how data-driven insights are creating the next generation of corporate gazelles. He also guides audiences through the most common, costly mistakes that might undermine AI’s utility — and the jobs of those misusing it. Participants will leave empowered to seize this revolutionary moment of AI, excited to apply it to their life and work, and confident enough to leapfrog the competition.

Artificial Intelligence: Decoded

Artificial intelligence (AI) captures headlines nearly every day, but how well do you understand what the technology is, what opportunities it presents, and what challenges might lurk around the corner? As executives and boards increasingly demand data-driven decisions and actionable insights from the mountains of information available within every sector of the economy, Dr. Edelman helps audiences make sense of the commercial revolution in big data and AI transforming individual firms and upending entire industries. Explaining in concrete, accessible terms how data-driven insights are creating the next generation of corporate gazelles, Edelman also guides audiences through the most common, costly mistakes that might undermine how companies use data — and can cost executives their jobs. Participants will leave with a thorough, informed understanding not just of the state of artificial intelligence, but of the national and international forces that will shape minds and markets for years to come.