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 operating inside the policy and procurement environments where the rules are being written.
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 tension by seeking to curb certain state AI laws and advance a more unified national policy framework, while state authority continues to matter in procurement, infrastructure, economic development, public-sector adoption, and other sensitive policy domains. Cutting through that complexity requires understanding who is shaping requirements, where decisions are forming, and how to be positioned before the evaluation begins.
Vertex helps technology companies, investors, and associations navigate the policy, regulatory, and procurement environments where these decisions get made — before requirements are written and opportunities are defined.
North Carolina Spotlight
- North Carolina’s AI expertise ranking jumped from 36th to 7th in the nation in 2025 — driven by the Research Triangle’s concentration of AI companies, tech jobs, and university research across UNC, Duke, and NC State — and Amazon’s planned $10 billion AI innovation campus in Richmond County reinforces the 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 and robotics, federal-state preemption, automated decision-making, algorithmic accountability, AI liability, model transparency, generative AI disclosure, public-sector AI use, and sector-specific regulatory strategy
- Frontier technology and emerging market strategy — including quantum computing, precision agriculture, IoT, smart cities, digital twins, AR/VR, geospatial technology, edge computing, sensor networks, connected infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and other technologies moving from pilot programs into regulated public and commercial markets
- GovTech and public-sector modernization strategy — including NCDIT procurement modernization, state IT policy, digital services delivery, legacy-system replacement, public-sector technology implementation, and government technology adoption
- Software and cybersecurity regulatory strategy — including API access policy, open-source policy, secure-by-design requirements, vulnerability disclosure, software supply-chain risk, and incident reporting obligations
- Cloud infrastructure, data privacy, and governance regulation — including data sovereignty, state privacy laws, data localization, foreign ownership risk, data-center policy, and access restrictions affecting cloud providers and critical technology platforms
- Platform regulation, online safety, and digital identity policy — including content moderation, child online safety, platform liability, AI-generated content disclosure, deepfake regulation, and identity verification
- Intellectual property legislation and policy — including AI-generated content ownership, patent policy for emerging technologies, right-to-repair legislation, technology transfer, university commercialization, and federal and state IP legislative engagement
- Technology trade policy and national security review — including CFIUS review, BIS export controls, Entity List compliance, outbound investment restrictions, dual-use technology controls, and strategic technology transfer risk
- Federal and state funding, appropriations, and innovation strategy — including CHIPS Act, IIJA, SBIR/STTR, national laboratory partnerships, university research commercialization, pilot-program funding, and state economic-development incentives
- Federal and state technology procurement and government market access — including FAR/DFARS, Buy American, NDAA Sections 889 and 5949, FedRAMP, approved vendor pathways, and state IT modernization compliance
- Blockchain, digital assets, and stablecoin policy — including GENIUS Act compliance, state money transmission frameworks, tokenization infrastructure, government blockchain adoption, digital identity, on-chain AI agents, and the policy intersection of distributed ledger technology with cybersecurity, 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. 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)