Our Work

Technology & Innovation

Ensuring Silicon Valley remains the premier place to invent, test, deploy, and scale breakthrough innovation.

Tech Innovation Waymo

Overview

SVLG’s Tech & Innovation COE leads our work at the intersection of AI, emerging technology, policy and public-private partnerships.

We don’t just respond to policy—we shape it. We act as the strategic architect for California’s digital economy, proactively establishing the conditions necessary for the next wave of “Golden State” breakthroughs.

By providing the technical ground truth to policymakers, we ensure California remains the global standard for innovation.

Policy, Initiatives & Partnerships

Key 2026 initiatives include:

Proactively defining the “rules of the road” for the convergence of AI, robotics, and the physical world. This invite-only group of industry leaders works to align safety standards, accelerate responsible deployment, and inform future regulatory frameworks — ensuring California remains the primary launchpad for autonomous systems and embodied intelligence.

Addressing the next critical frontier — the transition to autonomous agents capable of planning, deciding, and acting. This group convenes industry leaders and policymakers to proactively shape agentic AI’s trajectory, establish governance frameworks, and ensure California leads the world in defining how these systems are developed and deployed from our central proving ground.

Driving advocacy for the physical backbone of the AI revolution. By convening leaders across energy, cooling, construction, and digital infrastructure, we tackle permitting bottlenecks, grid reliability, and sustainable development — securing the long-term competitiveness of California’s data center ecosystem.

Leading the transition to an AI-augmented economy by building a resilient, high-skilled talent pipeline. Members collaborate on proactive upskilling strategies, employer-led training models, and smart legislative incentives that prepare California’s workforce to lead — not follow — the next era of technological disruption.

Advocacy Highlights

On the advocacy front, SVLG’s Tech & Innovation Center of Expertise focuses on advancing policies that support rapid AI deployment, autonomous systems, privacy, and smart competition.

Key Legislative and Regulatory Priorities

At SVLG, we believe in fostering a regulatory environment that encourages growth, experimentation, and collaboration. We are committed to advocating for policies that empower the entrepreneurs, innovators and leading companies at the heart of the global technology ecosystem while protecting consumers through the responsible use of AI.

We are dedicated to working with lawmakers and stakeholders to find a balanced approach that supports both regulatory oversight and the growth of our tech ecosystem. We advocate for risk-based, sector-specific AI governance rather than one-size-fits-all mandates.

California’s leadership in technology and innovation depends on its ability to attract and retain infrastructure investment. SVLG supports a collaborative, data-driven approach to managing energy demand and infrastructure growth.

In 2026, we are advocating on a number of bills that seek to impose burdensome and technologically unfeasible reporting requirements that could introduce significant competitive risks to the innovation ecosystem of Silicon Valley.

This includes: SB 886 (Padilla), SB 887 (Padilla), SB 978 (Perez), as well as AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan), AB 2469 (Papan), AB 2619 (Papan).

SVLG believes that market competition and frictionless mergers and acquisitions have helped grow American innovation, strengthen our national economy, create jobs and provide low-or-no cost online services to consumers, researchers, entrepreneurs. Breaking up companies based on size or competition, absent a showing of inappropriate behavior, risks fracturing the no-cost online tools that are integrated across platforms for consumer convenience.

In 2026, our advocacy is focused on opposing AB 1776 (Aguiar-Curry) and SB 1074 (Wiener).

SVLG has played a key role in supporting the development and deployment of autonomous vehicles in California. We have previously testified before the California Public Utilities Commission, California Department of Motor Vehicles, California Highway Patrol and other agencies in support of advancing AVs, including the successful advocacy for commercial autonomous transportation throughout the state and expansion of member operational domains in the City of San Francisco. Most recently, we helped lead the effort to defeat AB 316, a bill that would have severely obscured California’s path to fully autonomous heavy-trucking.

In 2026, our advocacy is focused on [xx]