# Caleb Watney

> Caleb Watney is the co-founder and co-CEO of the Institute for Progress (IFP), a nonpartisan Washington, D.C. think tank that turns ideas from progress studies into policy. He runs IFP's work on metascience, high-skilled immigration, and emerging technology, hunting for the policy levers that could rebuild American state capacity and speed up the rate of scientific breakthroughs. Before IFP he led innovation policy at the Progressive Policy Institute and was a tech-policy fellow at R Street and a graduate research fellow at Mercatus.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Institute for Progress
- **Organizations:** Institute for Progress, Progressive Policy Institute (former), R Street Institute (former), Mercatus Center (former), Federation of American Scientists (affiliated expert)
- **From:** California, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** M.A. in Economics, George Mason University, Bachelor of Business Administration (economics minor), Sterling College (Kansas)
- **Known for:** Co-founded the Institute for Progress, a nonpartisan innovation policy think tank, in 2022, Created and hosted the 'Metascience 101' podcast series (2024), Testified to Congress on federal AI R&D funding (2023)

## Career timeline

- **—** — Graduate research fellow at the Mercatus Center while in grad school at George Mason
- **—** — Technology policy fellow at the R Street Institute
- **—** — Policy research consultant for Uber
- **—** — Director of innovation policy at the Progressive Policy Institute
- **2022** — Co-founded the Institute for Progress with Alec Stapp
- **2023** — Provided congressional testimony on federal AI R&D funding
- **2024** — Hosted the 'Metascience 101' podcast series
- **2025** — Published 'American Science Should Take a Lot More Risks' and spoke at the Progress Conference

## Achievements

- Co-founded the Institute for Progress, a nonpartisan innovation policy think tank, in 2022
- Created and hosted the 'Metascience 101' podcast series (2024)
- Testified to Congress on federal AI R&D funding (2023)
- Published in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Politico, Lawfare, National Review, Wall Street Journal, and Works in Progress
- Cited in The New York Times, The Economist, Vox, Ars Technica, and the National Journal

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Published 'American Science Should Take a Lot More Risks' and 'Using X-Labs to Unleash AI-Driven Scientific Breakthroughs.'
- **2025-06** — Published 'Catalyzing a Golden Age: A Blueprint for Strategic AI R&D Investment.'
- **2025** — Spoke at the Progress Conference.

## Links

- Website: https://calebwatney.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebwatney
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/calebwatney

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/caleb-watney
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-02