National

On Friday, May 13th, Axios Latino editor Astrid Galván and justice and race reporter Russell Contreras led conversations with newsmakers unpacking the top concerns and key issues among Latino voters – from inflation and the economy to immigration and more. Guests included UnidosUS president and CEO Janet Murguía and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).

Janet Murguía explained the top issues for Latino voters, where candidates tend to miss the mark in engaging with the Latino electorate and the importance of monitoring misinformation and micro-targeting strategies on social media campaigns.    

On what political candidates miss when reaching out to Latino voters: “Look, the economy and jobs and wages have always been top of mind for our community in poll after poll, and it’s something that’s not news to us. But I think that many candidates and certainly parties still can’t quite figure out that they have to meet our Latino voters where they are and engage them meaningfully on issues of importance to them.”

On micro-targeting strategies to appeal to voters on social media: “It’s both a shield and a sword in some ways, as candidates and parties are understanding that those are ways in which you can reach into the community, and there’s not a lot of vetting of that information, so some parties are using that to their advantage. But we have to make sure that we’re having accountability for those platforms and that we’re seeing ways to counteract what are false information and narratives.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales explained how Republican outreach to Latinos this year is different than in previous years, what’s driving record numbers of Latinos and Latinas running for GOP seats and the issues that are top of mind for his constituents right now.

On the increase in Latino & Latina GOP candidates: “I think they’re starting to question, hey, why am I a Democrat? What has my member of Congress done for me? What has the party done for me? And I think they’re starting to have a lot of questions. And I think what you’re seeing is you’re starting to see more candidates that have never run before, that have never entered the arena, if you will.”

On the top issues for his constituents: “The number one issue in my district is the border, and it’s not even close. And they’re really upset, many people are upset, Democrats, Republicans, people that never voted. I mean, they’re upset in the sheer amount of folks that are coming over illegally has created this very chaotic environment. I’ll say, my district is very warm and welcoming…they’re not anti-immigrant. I’m not anti-immigrant. But what you see is this chaos that is happening.”

Thank you Bank of America for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on key issues among Latino voters

Axios event

Axios Latino: Impact at the ballot and beyond

On Friday, May 13th, Axios Latino editor Astrid Galván and justice and race reporter Russell Contreras led conversations with newsmakers unpacking the top concerns and key issues among Latino voters – from inflation and the economy to immigration and more. Guests included UnidosUS president and CEO Janet Murguía and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).Janet Murguía explained the top issues for Latino voters, where candidates tend to miss the mark in engaging with the Latino electorate and the importance of monitoring misinformation and micro-targeting strategies on social media campaigns. <ul><li>On what political candidates miss when reaching out to Latino voters: “Look, the economy and jobs and wages have always been top of mind for our community in poll after poll, and it’s something that’s not news to us. But I think that many candidates and certainly parties still can’t quite figure out that they have to meet our Latino voters where they are and engage them meaningfully on issues of importance to them.”</li><li>On micro-targeting strategies to appeal to voters on social media: “It’s both a shield and a sword in some ways, as candidates and parties are understanding that those are ways in which you can reach into the community, and there’s not a lot of vetting of that information, so some parties are using that to their advantage. But we have to make sure that we’re having accountability for those platforms and that we’re seeing ways to counteract what are false information and narratives.”</li></ul>Rep. Tony Gonzales explained how Republican outreach to Latinos this year is different than in previous years, what’s driving record numbers of Latinos and Latinas running for GOP seats and the issues that are top of mind for his constituents right now.<ul><li>On the increase in Latino &amp; Latina GOP candidates: “I think they’re starting to question, hey, why am I a Democrat? What has my member of Congress done for me? What has the party done for me? And I think they’re starting to have a lot of questions. And I think what you’re seeing is you’re starting to see more candidates that have never run before, that have never entered the arena, if you will.”</li><li>On the top issues for his constituents: “The number one issue in my district is the border, and it’s not even close. And they’re really upset, many people are upset, Democrats, Republicans, people that never voted. I mean, they’re upset in the sheer amount of folks that are coming over illegally has created this very chaotic environment. I’ll say, my district is very warm and welcoming…they’re not anti-immigrant. I’m not anti-immigrant. But what you see is this chaos that is happening.”</li></ul>Thank you Bank of America for sponsoring this event.

Axios Events

On Wednesday, May 4th, Axios health care editor Tina Reed and health care reporter Caitlin Owens led conversations examining proposals aimed at improving health care access and affordability in 2022. Guests included Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and MIT Ford economics professor Jonathan Gruber.  

Sen. Tom Carper discussed the importance of congressional action on COVID preparedness funding and his thoughts on solutions for reducing drug prices.  

On the COVID preparedness funding package: “We know that we’re going to have other variations of this virus. It’ll come back and honestly, just like it has in the last two years. It’ll happen again and we need to be ready – right on the money, ready to go and then go after it and help fund the research that needs to be done so we can come up with the vaccinations and the booster shots and the other kind of therapeutics to kill it.” 

On drug pricing: “I think we ought to protect individuals, seniors who are on Medicare from having to pay more than $2000 a year out of their own pockets. Those are some of the things that I believe there should be certainly strong Democratic support for, and I would hope bipartisan support.”  

Jonathan Gruber reflected on where things stand on the health care components of the Build Back Better package and the politics standing in the way of comprehensive reform.   

On the political barriers to expanding Medicare benefits: “I’m not opposed to it, but I think it’s a harder political lift. And honestly, I would hate to see millions of people lose health insurance coverage in a fight over that expansion. I think getting people health insurance coverage is more important, and I think that’s doable if more politically feasible…”

On prescription drug reform: “I believe in free markets where the conditions for free markets allow them to thrive. That’s not true in prescription drugs. The market has failed and we need some kind of regulation on prescription drug pricing. But, politically, we seem to be stuck in this bind.” 

In the View from the Top segment, PhRMA chief operating officer Lori Reilly highlighted factors creating health care affordability issues for Americans today.  

“We recently did a patient experience survey and we found out that about a third of Americans find that their current health care costs are just simply unworkable for their budget, which isn’t really surprising when you look at other data that shows that less than half of Americans have $1000 that’s accessible if they have a health care emergency as it relates to medicines…”

Thank you PhRMA for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on health care reform

Featuring Sen. Tom Carper and MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber

The Prognosis for Health Care Reform in 2022

On Wednesday, May 4th, Axios health care editor Tina Reed and health care reporter Caitlin Owens led conversations examining proposals aimed at improving health care access and affordability in 2022. Guests included Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and MIT Ford economics professor Jonathan Gruber. Sen. Tom Carper discussed the importance of congressional action on COVID preparedness funding and his thoughts on solutions for reducing drug prices. <ul><li>On the COVID preparedness funding package: “We know that we’re going to have other variations of this virus. It’ll come back and honestly, just like it has in the last two years. It’ll happen again and we need to be ready – right on the money, ready to go and then go after it and help fund the research that needs to be done so we can come up with the vaccinations and the booster shots and the other kind of therapeutics to kill it.” </li><li>On drug pricing: “I think we ought to protect individuals, seniors who are on Medicare from having to pay more than $2000 a year out of their own pockets. Those are some of the things that I believe there should be certainly strong Democratic support for, and I would hope bipartisan support.” </li></ul>Jonathan Gruber reflected on where things stand on the health care components of the Build Back Better package and the politics standing in the way of comprehensive reform. <ul><li>On the political barriers to expanding Medicare benefits: “I’m not opposed to it, but I think it’s a harder political lift. And honestly, I would hate to see millions of people lose health insurance coverage in a fight over that expansion. I think getting people health insurance coverage is more important, and I think that’s doable if more politically feasible…”</li><li>On prescription drug reform: “I believe in free markets where the conditions for free markets allow them to thrive. That’s not true in prescription drugs. The market has failed and we need some kind of regulation on prescription drug pricing. But, politically, we seem to be stuck in this bind.” </li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, PhRMA chief operating officer Lori Reilly highlighted factors creating health care affordability issues for Americans today. <ul><li>“We recently did a patient experience survey and we found out that about a third of Americans find that their current health care costs are just simply unworkable for their budget, which isn’t really surprising when you look at other data that shows that less than half of Americans have $1000 that’s accessible if they have a health care emergency as it relates to medicines…”</li></ul>Thank you PhRMA for sponsoring this event.

On Thursday, May 12th in Washington, D.C., Axios tech policy reporter Ashley Gold and managing editor for politics Margaret Talev led conversations with policymakers unpacking proposed antitrust legislation in Congress and the debates around its potential impact on the tech industry. Guests included Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips.

Rep. Eric Swalwell conveyed his view that the current legislation under consideration creates a national security problem, fails to address the privacy concerns that are top of mind for many Americans and raises concerns about remaining competitive with China. 

On the proposed antitrust legislation: “My fear, though, is that many of these reforms would throw the baby out with the bathwater, which I don’t want to do. California’s tech economy, America’s tech economy, is the baby that I want to protect.” 

On privacy concerns as a priority for Americans: “I think the concerns that Americans have with the internet, with software, are around their own privacy, how their data is being used. I think California addressed this with our California privacy laws, with how algorithms are leading to harmful outcomes, how disinformation is changing election landscapes. And this legislation does nothing to address that.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal explained her position, saying that this legislation is about ensuring small businesses can thrive. She also responded to arguments that antitrust bills would hurt national security and assessed the current political environment for this legislation to pass or fail.

On the biggest hurdle to getting antitrust bills passed: “In the House, the biggest hurdle is the enormous amounts of money that these tech companies put in. The lobbying is enormous, and if you look at how much money these companies are spending to lobby individual lawmakers, to put ads on TV, it is enormous.”

On the argument that antitrust would hurt national security: “We have a whole list of national security experts who have said that the thing that hurts national security the most is for us to not be able to innovate, for us to not have the competition that pushes the right kinds of innovation forward. And, I would say, our national security is really affected when consumers have no choices, when small businesses can’t thrive.”

FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips expressed his belief that there has been a focus from the administration on anti-merger policy rather than antitrust policy. He also said that Congress is going after certain tech companies rather than regulating harmful conduct and that legislation in general should address a clear problem.   

On mergers & acquisitions: “I think today what we have, the real novelty thus far in the Biden administration with respect to antitrust, is instead of having antitrust policy, we have anti-merger policy. We have a series of policies that we’ve adopted that are intended to slow generally M&A activity, to tax M&A, and they have a disparate impact. They sort of hurt smaller companies and smaller deals more than the big ones.”

On targeting specific companies through antitrust legislation: “What Congress has said is it’s not that we think this conduct is generally bad, so it’s okay if a retailer does it. But for these five companies, we’re going to have special rules, we’re going to weaken these companies…I think it’s a wonky approach to legislation.”

Thank you TechNet for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on tech's antitrust debates

Featuring Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Eric Swalwell, and the FTC commissioner.

On Thursday, May 12th in Washington, D.C., Axios tech policy reporter Ashley Gold and managing editor for politics Margaret Talev led conversations with policymakers unpacking proposed antitrust legislation in Congress and the debates around its potential impact on the tech industry. Guests included Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips.Rep. Eric Swalwell conveyed his view that the current legislation under consideration creates a national security problem, fails to address the privacy concerns that are top of mind for many Americans and raises concerns about remaining competitive with China. <ul><li>On the proposed antitrust legislation: “My fear, though, is that many of these reforms would throw the baby out with the bathwater, which I don’t want to do. California’s tech economy, America’s tech economy, is the baby that I want to protect.” </li><li>On privacy concerns as a priority for Americans: “I think the concerns that Americans have with the internet, with software, are around their own privacy, how their data is being used. I think California addressed this with our California privacy laws, with how algorithms are leading to harmful outcomes, how disinformation is changing election landscapes. And this legislation does nothing to address that.”</li></ul>Rep. Pramila Jayapal explained her position, saying that this legislation is about ensuring small businesses can thrive. She also responded to arguments that antitrust bills would hurt national security and assessed the current political environment for this legislation to pass or fail.<ul><li>On the biggest hurdle to getting antitrust bills passed: “In the House, the biggest hurdle is the enormous amounts of money that these tech companies put in. The lobbying is enormous, and if you look at how much money these companies are spending to lobby individual lawmakers, to put ads on TV, it is enormous.”</li><li>On the argument that antitrust would hurt national security: “We have a whole list of national security experts who have said that the thing that hurts national security the most is for us to not be able to innovate, for us to not have the competition that pushes the right kinds of innovation forward. And, I would say, our national security is really affected when consumers have no choices, when small businesses can’t thrive.”</li></ul>FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips expressed his belief that there has been a focus from the administration on anti-merger policy rather than antitrust policy. He also said that Congress is going after certain tech companies rather than regulating harmful conduct and that legislation in general should address a clear problem. <ul><li>On mergers &amp; acquisitions: “I think today what we have, the real novelty thus far in the Biden administration with respect to antitrust, is instead of having antitrust policy, we have anti-merger policy. We have a series of policies that we’ve adopted that are intended to slow generally M&amp;A activity, to tax M&amp;A, and they have a disparate impact. They sort of hurt smaller companies and smaller deals more than the big ones.”</li><li>On targeting specific companies through antitrust legislation: “What Congress has said is it’s not that we think this conduct is generally bad, so it’s okay if a retailer does it. But for these five companies, we’re going to have special rules, we’re going to weaken these companies…I think it’s a wonky approach to legislation.”</li></ul>Thank you TechNet for sponsoring this event.

On Tuesday, May 10th, Axios justice and race reporter Russ Contreras and business reporter Erica Pandey led conversations examining initiatives to resolve higher education barriers that students from marginalized communities often face. Guests included Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and The Education Trust-West executive director Christopher J. Nellum.

Miguel Cardona explained how the Department of Education is working to make college more affordable for people who pursue careers in teaching and public service, address issues at the root of student debt problems and expand access to alternative forms of higher education. 

On revamping the public service loan forgiveness program: “It was broken, it really was broken. 98% of the applicants were denied, and this program from 2017 until 2022, served 7,000 people in the span of four or five years. We’ve served over 113,000 in one year…we are working really hard to provide loan forgiveness to public servants…it’s worth it to know that educators don’t have to be buried in debt for the rest of their lives.”

On tackling student debt and college affordability: “I’ve said in the past, loan forgiveness is one thing, but we’re also fixing the problems that got us to where we are. We’re making sure college affordability is a shared goal with our college leaders, with our partners in the education field. We’ve also looked deeper into some of these debts that borrowers have…[for] over 400,000 borrowers, we’ve canceled their loans if they were deemed total and permanently disabled.” 

Christopher J. Nellum conveyed how a new California law will expand access to financial aid for low-income students, how a college education can help students overcome poverty and why loan forgiveness proposals would help students if they are implemented.

On California’s new law requiring high school students to fill out FAFSA: “We need people to understand different financial aid packages. We need people to understand that they actually can afford to go, that’s really the piece that was important to us: that there is money, free money in often cases, for folks to go to college. We think it’s a tremendously important step and the state agreed with us, and now we have this new law that will go into effect next year.”

On student loan forgiveness proposals: “We need to do away with student debt, and then also figure out a way to control college costs on the other side of the equation. I think it would be a huge policy win for the administration, and I think it would hugely help students of color. In particular, we know Black women carry more debt and then experience a wealth gap, and so I think it would be tremendous if that were to happen.”

In the View from the Top segment, Sallie Mae CEO Jon Witter highlighted the importance of ensuring that students have access to a variety of resources and ways to pay for college.

“Loans can be a part of the answer, but we need more grants. We need more scholarships. The good news is that this is starting to happen already. The federal government is looking hard at Pell Grants. There’s broad bipartisan support to enhance that program. Universities are looking hard at both the level of financial support they give and how they award it, and the private sector is getting involved too.”

Thank you Sallie Mae for sponsoring this event.

Watch: A conversation on accessibility and affordability in education

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and more join Axios to discuss education access.

Addressing Access and Affordability in Higher Education

On Tuesday, May 10th, Axios justice and race reporter Russ Contreras and business reporter Erica Pandey led conversations examining initiatives to resolve higher education barriers that students from marginalized communities often face. Guests included Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and The Education Trust-West executive director Christopher J. Nellum.Miguel Cardona explained how the Department of Education is working to make college more affordable for people who pursue careers in teaching and public service, address issues at the root of student debt problems and expand access to alternative forms of higher education. <ul><li>On revamping the public service loan forgiveness program: “It was broken, it really was broken. 98% of the applicants were denied, and this program from 2017 until 2022, served 7,000 people in the span of four or five years. We’ve served over 113,000 in one year…we are working really hard to provide loan forgiveness to public servants…it’s worth it to know that educators don’t have to be buried in debt for the rest of their lives.”</li><li>On tackling student debt and college affordability: “I’ve said in the past, loan forgiveness is one thing, but we’re also fixing the problems that got us to where we are. We’re making sure college affordability is a shared goal with our college leaders, with our partners in the education field. We’ve also looked deeper into some of these debts that borrowers have…[for] over 400,000 borrowers, we’ve canceled their loans if they were deemed total and permanently disabled.” </li></ul>Christopher J. Nellum conveyed how a new California law will expand access to financial aid for low-income students, how a college education can help students overcome poverty and why loan forgiveness proposals would help students if they are implemented.<ul><li>On California’s new law requiring high school students to fill out FAFSA: “We need people to understand different financial aid packages. We need people to understand that they actually can afford to go, that’s really the piece that was important to us: that there is money, free money in often cases, for folks to go to college. We think it’s a tremendously important step and the state agreed with us, and now we have this new law that will go into effect next year.”</li><li>On student loan forgiveness proposals: “We need to do away with student debt, and then also figure out a way to control college costs on the other side of the equation. I think it would be a huge policy win for the administration, and I think it would hugely help students of color. In particular, we know Black women carry more debt and then experience a wealth gap, and so I think it would be tremendous if that were to happen.”</li></ul>In the View from the Top segment, Sallie Mae CEO Jon Witter highlighted the importance of ensuring that students have access to a variety of resources and ways to pay for college.<ul><li>“Loans can be a part of the answer, but we need more grants. We need more scholarships. The good news is that this is starting to happen already. The federal government is looking hard at Pell Grants. There’s broad bipartisan support to enhance that program. Universities are looking hard at both the level of financial support they give and how they award it, and the private sector is getting involved too.”</li></ul>Thank you Sallie Mae for sponsoring this event.

On Tuesday, May 10th, Axios hosted an Expert Voices roundtable discussion in Austin, featuring leaders in local business, technology, education and government who examined the next era of 5G, from developments in the innovation pipeline to applications across industries. Axios’ business reporter Hope King and technology reporter Margaret McGill led the conversation. 

Digi.City founder Chelsea Collier speaking to the Axios roundtable group.

Chelsea Collier, founder of Digi.City, spoke to the important role 5G will play in addressing the digital divide. “The digital divide of course is an urgent issue…I think again if we communicate effectively the role of 5G, what it can deliver, that it can help to increase computing at the edge and what that means for the average citizen while also addressing the case of connectivity issues, I think we’ll get closer, but it’s still this very tough issue.” 

Thomas Alomes, director of Sports Innovation Texas, explained how 5G technology is bringing innovation to the operations of the sports industry. “We now have the technology through things like 5G and now we have the desire as an industry to implement these things like digital ticketing, cashless, advanced applications of augmented reality…so that’s where 5G is really exciting for what it unlocks.”  

Sharad Mudhol, smartDigs Austin principal, engaging with guests.

smartDigs Austin principal Sharad Mudhol expressed excitement about the potential for 5G to integrate technologies like augmented reality into home and building construction job sites. “Imagining the house in 3D on the job side, that’s going to be so revolutionary… there’s a lot of things that are hyped, but this one is actually going to help us, and then now imagine just not in a single family residential home, imagine a 50-story high rise that we’re building in Austin and getting everything lined up in the AR and VR, it’s going to be so transformative when we get there.” 

Robert Spalding, CEO of SEMPRE, maintained that the connection between 5G and national security is largely an issue of economic opportunity and investing in our national infrastructure. “Unfortunately, we tend to think about what China is doing, not what we should be doing. All of these applications are wonderful, but ultimately they need infrastructure to enable them. And today when infrastructure is built it’s single tenant single use, and that’s a problem…so what 5G enables is this ability to have multi-tenant multi-use in infrastructure that gets built.”

Jeffrey DeCoux, Autonomy Institute chairman, speaking to fellow attendees.

Autonomy Institute chairman Jeffrey DeCoux emphasized the need for more infrastructure to support the rollout of 5G. “I think one thing that 5G has opened up the door to for all of us is this is going to spawn the largest infrastructure buildout in our nation’s history.”

Hon. Larry Wallace Jr., Ph.D, Chief of Staff in the City of Austin’s District 1 and former Mayor for the City of Manor, pointed out how small cities often don’t have ample resources to access technologies like 5G. “Technology is great, but it also hinders us. And, it hinders us even further when we are not able to access it…”

Emma Grant, Verizon SVP of Corporate Strategy, illustrated how 5G will also enable accompanying technologies to grow. “All of this technology that today we’re starting to see come to life…it’s because we lacked a certain set of other accompanying technologies, we didn’t have edge computing…we didn’t have ubiquitous connectivity, we don’t yet but we’re in the direction to getting there. And I think about how 5G will enable those, and that excites me.”  

Thank you Verizon for sponsoring this event.

The next era of 5G: Austin

Axios hosted an Expert Voices roundtable discussion in Austin on the next era of 5G.

Participants enjoyed a seated dinner during the discussion.

On Tuesday, May 10th, Axios hosted an Expert Voices roundtable discussion in Austin, featuring leaders in local business, technology, education and government who examined the next era of 5G, from developments in the innovation pipeline to applications across industries. Axios’ business reporter Hope King and technology reporter Margaret McGill led the conversation. <figure><img alt="Digi.City founder Chelsea Collier speaking to the Axios roundtable group." height="3648" id="1df0a47f-aa47-4328-b0d4-2b9ed384c29f" src="https://images.axios.com/Ty4vPoySHagD1wNAVtPdz_nDSqE=/2022/05/17/1652798047114.jpg" width="5472"/><figcaption>Digi.City founder Chelsea Collier speaking to the Axios roundtable group.</figcaption></figure><ul><li>Chelsea Collier, founder of Digi.City, spoke to the important role 5G will play in addressing the digital divide. “The digital divide of course is an urgent issue…I think again if we communicate effectively the role of 5G, what it can deliver, that it can help to increase computing at the edge and what that means for the average citizen while also addressing the case of connectivity issues, I think we’ll get closer, but it’s still this very tough issue.” </li><li>Thomas Alomes, director of Sports Innovation Texas, explained how 5G technology is bringing innovation to the operations of the sports industry. “We now have the technology through things like 5G and now we have the desire as an industry to implement these things like digital ticketing, cashless, advanced applications of augmented reality…so that’s where 5G is really exciting for what it unlocks.” </li></ul><figure><img alt="Sharad Mudhol, smartDigs Austin principal, engaging with guests." height="4480" id="c61ce5c8-a32f-4a65-9410-db0ae2b9e2ff" src="https://images.axios.com/JXiUe1Nhx-loQSh623PeOS9noS0=/2022/05/17/1652798179737.jpg" width="6720"/><figcaption>Sharad Mudhol, smartDigs Austin principal, engaging with guests.</figcaption></figure><ul><li>smartDigs Austin principal Sharad Mudhol expressed excitement about the potential for 5G to integrate technologies like augmented reality into home and building construction job sites. “Imagining the house in 3D on the job side, that’s going to be so revolutionary… there’s a lot of things that are hyped, but this one is actually going to help us, and then now imagine just not in a single family residential home, imagine a 50-story high rise that we’re building in Austin and getting everything lined up in the AR and VR, it’s going to be so transformative when we get there.” </li><li>Robert Spalding, CEO of SEMPRE, maintained that the connection between 5G and national security is largely an issue of economic opportunity and investing in our national infrastructure. “Unfortunately, we tend to think about what China is doing, not what we should be doing. All of these applications are wonderful, but ultimately they need infrastructure to enable them. And today when infrastructure is built it’s single tenant single use, and that’s a problem…so what 5G enables is this ability to have multi-tenant multi-use in infrastructure that gets built.”</li></ul><figure><img alt="Jeffrey DeCoux, Autonomy Institute chairman, speaking to fellow attendees." height="4480" id="2b9889e7-d211-4892-929f-eba964b1bd89" src="https://images.axios.com/8fBcuGWdGjdQP66wxQJ867VObgs=/2022/05/17/1652798297410.jpg" width="6720"/><figcaption>Jeffrey DeCoux, Autonomy Institute chairman, speaking to fellow attendees.</figcaption></figure><ul><li>Autonomy Institute chairman Jeffrey DeCoux emphasized the need for more infrastructure to support the rollout of 5G. “I think one thing that 5G has opened up the door to for all of us is this is going to spawn the largest infrastructure buildout in our nation’s history.”</li><li>Hon. Larry Wallace Jr., Ph.D, Chief of Staff in the City of Austin’s District 1 and former Mayor for the City of Manor, pointed out how small cities often don’t have ample resources to access technologies like 5G. “Technology is great, but it also hinders us. And, it hinders us even further when we are not able to access it…”</li><li>Emma Grant, Verizon SVP of Corporate Strategy, illustrated how 5G will also enable accompanying technologies to grow. “All of this technology that today we’re starting to see come to life…it’s because we lacked a certain set of other accompanying technologies, we didn’t have edge computing…we didn’t have ubiquitous connectivity, we don’t yet but we’re in the direction to getting there. And I think about how 5G will enable those, and that excites me.” </li></ul>Thank you Verizon for sponsoring this event.

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