Hill & Valley Forum preview: biotech, national security, and international expansion coming March 24
Jan 29, 2026 with Christian Garrett & Delian Asparouhov
Key Points
- Hill & Valley Forum is pivoting from networking venue to policy incubator, planning to release joint policy papers on biotech supply chain risks during its March 24 event in Washington DC.
- The forum will feature confirmed speakers including Vinod Khosla, Brad Lightcap from OpenAI, and leaders from Anduril and Palantir, with roughly 1,000 attendees and livestreamed panels on YouTube and X.
- International manufacturing leaders like Young Liu from Foxconn will attend to coordinate Western reindustrialization efforts, though the event remains 85-90% domestically focused with energy and national security as core topics.
Summary
The Hill & Valley Forum is entering its fifth year as a newly registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and expanding beyond bridging technology and government to focus on industrial policy, national security, and biotech supply chain risks. The March 24 event in Washington DC will draw roughly 1,000 attendees. Confirmed speakers include Trey Stevens from Anduril, Vinod Khosla, Brad Lightcap from OpenAI, and Shyam Sankar from Palantir. Government speakers have not yet been announced.
Christian Garrett and Delian Asparouhov say the 2026 edition marks a deliberate shift toward sectoral depth and international alignment. The forum will deepen its focus on biotech, with both founders warning that the US risks losing its biotech supply chain to China the same way it lost consumer electronics and humanoid manufacturing. They plan to release joint policy papers during the event, positioning the forum as a policy incubator where private and public incentives align on national priorities rather than purely as a networking venue.
International participation is expanding beyond traditional ambassador attendance. Young Liu from Foxconn and other allied manufacturing leaders will attend, reflecting a broader theme around Western reindustrialization. Asparouhov points to TSMC's Arizona investment and Anduril's expansion into the UK, Australia, and Japan as examples of how companies are shifting supply chains away from China. The underlying goal is not just US self-sufficiency but ensuring allies like France, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Japan adopt the same technological and industrial patterns. The event will remain roughly 85-90% domestically focused, with international panels as a smaller accent rather than a Davos-style pivot.
Energy policy will appear in two forms: a nuclear-focused panel with at least one notable general attached, though unnamed, and discussions around AI infrastructure demands and energy constraints. The forum timing is deliberately synchronized with congressional session weeks so policy outcomes can move quickly. Legislation, not just recommendations, is the intended output.
The forum recently hired full-time staff after one co-founder departed to become the youngest undersecretary in US history. Asparouhov and Garrett are open to ad-hoc satellite events and recently collaborated with FII's Saudi conference, but the annual Washington event remains the anchor. A potential for-profit conversion was mentioned but left unconfirmed. All panels will be livestreamed on YouTube and X, with media coverage from Bloomberg and others available to remote viewers.