Voices for Innovation is a Microsoft-supported advocacy community that shares information about critical tech policy debates and encourages our members to participate in discussions about policies that shape innovation and the future of tech. We encourage Microsoft Alumni Network members to sign up for VFI today.
This month, we want to highlight two recent examples of Microsoft’s policy leadership:
Microsoft Support for Election Security
Since 2019, Microsoft has been leading the development of an open source end-to-end verifiable election (E2E-V) solution, ElectionGuard. E2E-V enables independent verification of election results while protecting ballot secrecy. Since that time, ElectionGuard and the E2E-V concept have been piloted successfully in local elections.
Earlier this summer, to advance the deployment of ElectionGuard—and to strengthen and protect democracy—the Council of State Governments announced the formation of the Election Technology Initiative (ETI), which will assume leadership of the ElectionGuard project. Microsoft will continue to provide ongoing support to this critical election technology initiative. Read more about this development here.
Innovation, Infrastructure, and Policy Drive Decarbonization
Last month, as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials’ and Ministerial Meetings taking place in Seattle, Microsoft hosted a discussion on decarbonization of the power sector. As a Microsoft on the Issues blog explains, making continued progress on reducing carbon emissions will take a combination of innovation, infrastructure expansion, and sensible public policies. The blog also highlights Microsoft’s clean energy goals, its investments in clean energy capacity, and the role that AI can play in driving efficiencies and improved operations in the energy sector.