Technology markets have never moved faster. Agentic AI, quantum computing, semiconductors, edge devices, and next-generation hardware platforms are reshaping industries, government operations, and national security faster than policy environments were built to accommodate. The companies positioned to win are not just building better products — they are engaging inside the policy and procurement environments where the rules are being written.
That matters because the rules are no longer forming in one place. Privacy legislation, data governance requirements, and AI liability frameworks are proliferating across jurisdictions — often inconsistently and sometimes in conflict. The Trump Administration’s December 2025 executive order sharpened that federal-state tension by targeting state AI laws viewed as obstructing a national policy framework, even as state authority continues to shape procurement, infrastructure, economic development, public-sector adoption, and other sensitive policy domains.
For companies trying to enter or expand in these markets, the challenge is not simply tracking new rules. It is understanding how policy, procurement, and adoption decisions are beginning to converge.
Vertex helps technology companies, investors, and associations engage earlier in the government decision-making process — where policy direction, procurement requirements, funding priorities, and adoption pathways begin to take shape.
North Carolina Spotlight
- North Carolina’s AI profile accelerated sharply in 2025, with NCDIT citing a rise in the state’s AI expertise ranking from 36th to 7th nationally — driven by the Research Triangle’s concentration of AI companies, tech jobs, and university research across UNC, Duke, and NC State — while Amazon’s planned $10 billion AI innovation campus in Richmond County reinforces the state’s broader trajectory.
- Governor Stein’s Executive Order 24 established the North Carolina AI Leadership Council and directed state agencies to begin building a more coordinated framework for AI strategy, governance, workforce development, and public-sector adoption.
- The North Carolina General Assembly is also considering AI-related legislation, including proposals for an AI Innovation Trust Fund and an Office of AI Policy — creating both compliance questions and policy engagement opportunities for technology companies operating in the state.
Specialty Areas
- AI policy and governance — including agentic AI, autonomous systems, robotics, federal-state preemption, automated decision-making, algorithmic accountability, AI liability, model transparency, generative AI disclosure, public-sector AI use, and sector-specific regulatory developments.
- Frontier technology and emerging markets — including quantum computing, precision agriculture, IoT, smart cities, digital twins, AR/VR, geospatial technology, edge computing, sensor networks, connected infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and technologies moving from pilot programs into regulated public and commercial markets.
- GovTech and public-sector technology adoption — including digital service delivery, legacy-system replacement, enterprise software modernization, data-sharing frameworks, citizen-service platforms, agency implementation risk, vendor onboarding, and technology adoption across federal, state, and local government.
- Software, cybersecurity, and authorization policy — including API access, open-source policy, secure-by-design requirements, vulnerability disclosure, software supply-chain risk, incident reporting obligations, FedRAMP, GovRAMP, Authority to Operate, security assessment and authorization, and state cloud-security reviews.
- Cloud infrastructure, data privacy, and data governance — including data sovereignty, state privacy laws, data localization, foreign ownership risk, data-center policy, cloud procurement requirements, and access restrictions affecting cloud providers and critical technology platforms.
- Platform regulation, online safety, and digital identity — including content moderation, child online safety, platform liability, AI-generated content disclosure, deepfake regulation, age assurance, identity verification, and state and federal regulation affecting digital platforms.
- Intellectual property and technology transfer policy — including AI-generated content ownership, patent policy for emerging technologies, right-to-repair legislation, university commercialization, federal research partnerships, and federal and state IP legislative engagement.
- Technology trade, investment, and national-security review — including CFIUS review, outbound investment restrictions, EAR and ITAR export-control considerations, BIS licensing, Entity List and end-user restrictions, dual-use and advanced computing controls, sensitive data restrictions, and strategic technology transfer risk.
- Funding, appropriations, and innovation programs — including CHIPS Act, IIJA, SBIR/STTR, national laboratory partnerships, university research commercialization, pilot-program funding, state economic-development incentives, and local infrastructure support tied to technology deployment.
- Technology procurement and government market access — including FAR and DFARS requirements, Buy American, NDAA Sections 889 and 5949, approved vendor pathways, federal procurement vehicles such as GSA MAS, IDIQs, GWACs, and BPAs, cooperative purchasing options such as NASPO ValuePoint, NCDIT statewide IT term contracts, NC eProcurement positioning, and state and local IT procurement requirements.
- Blockchain, digital assets, and stablecoin policy — including GENIUS Act compliance, state money transmission frameworks, tokenization infrastructure, government blockchain adoption, on-chain AI agents, cybersecurity considerations, national-security review, and public-sector financial infrastructure.
Relevant Regulatory & Government Bodies
Federal
- Copyright Office / U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- General Services Administration (GSA)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
- U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
- U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- U.S. Department of State (DOS)
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- U.S. Senate & House Banking, Commerce, Judiciary, and Appropriations Committees
North Carolina
- North Carolina AI Leadership Council
- North Carolina Department of Administration (NCDOA)
- North Carolina Department of Commerce (NCDOC)
- North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT)
- North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ)
- North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA)
- North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB)
- North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM)