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]]>The tech industry has found a surprising new ally in its effort to shape public policy in Washington: the 82-year-old libertarian billionaire Charles Koch. Two organizations founded by Koch, one an education-focused institute and the other a grant-making foundation, have spent the past year ramping up their efforts to shape public debate on tech policy topics like self-driving cars and the rights of online publishers. And despite their ideological distance on issues like the Paris climate accord, the Koch groups and left-leaning Silicon Valley are working together to advance the argument that innovation is most likely to flourish when legislators and regulators leave it alone … Beyond Washington, the Koch foundation says it's also increased support for academics considering tech policy, including a Texas A&M accounting professor launching a center for the study of innovation and a Georgia Tech public policy expert who works on issues related to internet governance.