Digital divide, platform monopolies: Governing technology in a time of crisis

COVID-19 has amplified long held concerns about the digital economy: the monopoly power of big tech, the lack of privacy, lagging government capabilities, and the digital divide between those with and without access. There is a vast potential for governments to change course and steer digitalisation towards societal ends and away from the value extractive model of monetising personal information. This webinar will discuss how governments across the world have seized this opportunity, from tracking apps to shaping markets through new digital platforms.
Speakers:
Francesca Bria is an innovation economist and digital policy expert whose work is located at the intersection of technology, geopolitics and the economy.
She is the President of the Italian Innovation Fund, the largest national fund to develop and grow the Italian innovation and venture capital system. Previously, Francesca was Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer for the City of Barcelona and Senior Programme Lead at Nesta, the UK Innovation Agency. In 2017, she founded the DECODE project, funded by the EU, to create tools to give individuals more control of what happens with their personal data. She is Senior Adviser on Digital Cities and Digital Rights for the United Nations and Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She has been listed as one of the top 50 women in tech by Forbes and as one of 100 women changing the world by Italian Magazine Repubblica "D". Follow Francesca on Twitter @francesca_bria
Giulio Quaggiotto is an expert in the social and international development aspects of innovation.
In his role with the UNDP he works with governments across the Asia Pacific region to develop innovative capabilities and generate solutions to complex development challenges. He is a Research Associate at MIT with a focus on user driven innovation. Previously, he was the Director of Community at Climate KIC and an Innovation Advisor for the Prime Minister’s Office in the UAE. Giulio’s career also includes stints at Nesta, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Bank. He was also the manager of the Jakarta Lab of the UN Global Pulse, a flagship innovation initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General on big data for public policy. Follow Giulio on Twitter @gquaggiotto
Chair:
Rainer Kattel is a leading thinker on the organisational and institutional aspects of innovation and innovation policies.
His work has revealed the delicate balancing act for entrepreneurial states between enabling agility and experimentation whilst simultaneously providing stability to minimise long-term uncertainty. Recently, he has focused on the digital transformation of the public sector and its implications for public services, politics and markets. He has written and edited numerous books, including the forthcoming Innovation Bureaucracies (with Wolfgang Drechsler and Erkki Karo). For ten years he led the Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance and has served as an expert for public organisations such as the Estonian Research Council, the OECD, UNDP and the European Commission. He leads Estonia’s Gender Equality Council and is a member of the E-Estonia Council. In 2013, he received Estonia's National Science Award for his work on innovation policy. Follow Rainer on Twitter @rainerkattel