Publications & Documents

This work employs a novel approach to identify and characterise firms adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), using different sources of large microdata. Focusing on the United Kingdom, the analysis combines data on Intellectual Property Rights, website information, online job postings, and firm-level financials for the first time. It shows that a significant share of AI adopters is active in Information and Communication Technologies and professional services, and is located in the South of the United Kingdom, particularly around London. Adopters tend to be highly productive and larger than other firms, while young adopters tend to hire AI workers more intensively. Human capital appears to play an important role, not only for AI adoption but also for firms’ productivity returns. Significant differences in the characteristics of AI adopters emerge when distinguishing between firms carrying out AI innovation, those with an AI core business, and those searching for AI talent.

The OECD Policy Framework on Digital Security charts the economic and social dimension of cybersecurity, highlights the OECD approach to digital security policy and equips policymakers to use OECD digital security Recommendations in developing better policies. The Framework also identifies linkages with other policy areas addressed through existing OECD standards and tools. The OECD has been at the forefront of international efforts on guiding policy makers in the area of digital security since 1990 and has become the primary international standard setter in this area. OECD Recommendations on digital security support stakeholders in developing digital security policies for economic and social prosperity, in line with the OECD’s mandate to help governments develop 'better policies for better lives'.

As our online and offline lives become increasingly interwoven, policy makers have to consider how to protect individual interests and rights. This paper considers the impact of digital transformation on internationally recognised human rights, legal and constitutional rights, and domestically protected interests. It sets out three case studies, freedom of expression, privacy and Internet access, and provides a brief overview of current international and domestic initiatives to protect 'rights in the digital age'. The paper sets the scene for further discussion on the issue and supports policy makers in designing and achieving a rights-oriented and human-centric digital transformation.

Data are generated wherever digital technologies are deployed namely, in almost every part of modern life. Using these data can empower individuals, drive innovation, enable new digital products and improve policy making and public service delivery. But as data become more widely used across sectors and applications, the potential for misuse and harm also grows. To advance data governance for growth and well-being, this report advocates a holistic and coherent approach to data governance, domestically and across borders. It examines how data have emerged as a strategic asset, with the ability to transform lives and confer economic advantage. It explains how the unique characteristics of data can pose complex trade-offs and challenge policies that pre-date the data-driven era. This report provides new insights, evidence and analysis and outlines considerations for better data governance policies in the digital age.

The ubiquitous collection, use, and sharing of data that power today’s economies challenge existing governance frameworks and policy approaches. Drawing on the extensive research and analysis conducted at the OECD on data governance, on countries’ policies and practices, and the OECD legal instruments in this area, the Going Digital Guide to Data Governance Policy Making supports policy makers in navigating three fundamental policy tensions that characterise efforts to develop, revise, and implement policies for data governance across policy domains in the digital age: balancing data openness and control while maximising trust; managing overlapping and potentially conflicting interests and regulations related to data; incentivising investments in data and their effective re-use. The operative part of the guide consists of a checklist of questions to orient policy makers as they develop and revise effective policies for data governance, based on possible policy approaches and real-life examples.

Digital technologies underpin the creation, generation, collection, transfer and use of data, and digital technological development and deployment shape data governance policy debates. This report analyses how technological development can raise different issues for data governance through the example of connected and automated vehicles, which collect large volumes of data that are likely to be personal. Through the example of these vehicles, this report explores data governance in an evolving technological landscape, and offers recommendations to ensure policies remain resilient to technological change over time.

Data have become a key input into the production of many goods and services. But just how important? What is the value of data – their contribution to economic growth and well-being? This report discusses different approaches to data valuation, their advantages and shortcomings and their applicability in different contexts. It argues that the value of data depends to a large extent on the data governance framework determining how they can be created, shared and used. In addition, the report provides estimates of the value of data and data flows. Its focus is on the monetary valuation of data produced by private economic actors and their recording in economic statistics. Finally, the report puts forward a draft measurement agenda for the future.

Firms are at the forefront of digital transformation and drive production, innovation and the greater deployment of digital technologies into economies and societies. As digital transformation progresses, how firms use data, and how that use affects markets and influences competitive dynamics, has risen to the top of policy agendas. This report highlights that too few firms use data, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, despite data’s potential to boost productivity, foster innovation and new business models. This report analyses how this uneven use of data affects productivity dispersion, industry concentration and shape competitive dynamics in markets. Finally, the report outlines key policy lessons to increase the ability of the full business population to thrive in the data-driven age and enhance long-term prosperity and welfare.