On 12 January 2017, the OECD officially launched the
Going Digital project. The project aims to help policymakers better understand the digital transformation that is taking place and develop tools to create a policy environment that enables their economies and societies to prosper in a world that is increasingly digital and data-driven. To achieve these objectives, the project leverages the unique capacity of the OECD to bring together a wide range of policy communities and stakeholders to collectively identify the opportunities and address the challenges our economies and societies face in a digital world.
This project is relevant to the 2017 IGF “Shape your Digital Future!” conference because it will articulate recommendations for forward-looking, pro-active policies that will help to drive greater growth and societal well-being and help address the challenges of slow productivity growth, high unemployment and growing inequality in many countries. In particular, one component of the project involves using foresight to develop a set of set of plausible alternative future scenarios to explore possible opportunities and challenges that could emerge as the digital transformation progresses. The OECD will then work to develop possible policy responses to be prepared for these potential future scenarios
The objective of the proposed Open Forum workshop is to inform stakeholders about the project and solicit feedback on the overall scope and activities, with a particular focus on the Going Digital foresight scenarios that will be developed specifically for the project. In particular, we see the IGF as a unique forum to test some of the technology aspects of the scenarios to ensure that they are both plausible and incorporate cutting-edge knowledge about technological developments.
Agenda (1 hour)
The panel includes 4 women and 2 men and 4 stakeholder groups (business, government, civil society, and the Internet technical community), all confirmed:
I. Overview of the OECD project: Going Digital: Making the Transformation Work for Growth and Well-being (5 minutes, Molly Lesher, OECD)
II. Special focus on the OECD Going Digital Foresight Scenarios (11 minutes, Duncan Cass-Beggs, OECD)
III. Stakeholder reactions to the Going Digital project and the Foresight Scenarios, answering two questions (24 minutes)
- What are the three most important outputs that the Going Digital project should deliver?
- Are the foresight scenarios plausible? Are there important “weak signals” or potential technological developments that we’ve missed?
Carolyn Nguyen, Microsoft (6 minutes)
Johannes Rühl, Switzerland (6 minutes)
Olga Cavalli, ISOC (6 minutes)
Suso Baleato, Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (6 minutes)
IV. Open discussion among participants on site and online (18 minutes)
V. Closing remarks (Molly Lesher, OECD, 2 minutes).
Tag 1:
Digital Transformation Tag 2:
Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Future Tag 3:
Digital Future Speaker(s):
Mr. Duncan Cass-Beggs is currently OECD Counsellor for Strategic Foresight. His work aims to enhance strategic foresight and new approaches within the OECD and bring a stronger future focus to global dialogue on key policy issues. He works with OECD staff, governments and leading foresight practitioners worldwide to explore disruptive changes that could occur in the future – and their implications for policy decisions today. This work will aim to challenge prevailing assumptions and stimulate ongoing dialogue on the most adaptive policies for a rapidly evolving and uncertain world.
Ms. Molly Lesher is the Co-ordinator of the OECD Going Digital project, which brings a whole-of-OECD perspective to understanding the digital transformation and developing pro-active policies to make it work for growth and well-being. More broadly, her work is aimed at supporting OECD member and partner governments with digital economy policy advice and analysis.
Dr. M-H. Carolyn Nguyen is a Director of Technology Policy at Microsoft, focused on policy issues related to internet governance, the digital economy, and artificial intelligence. Her work is aimed at influencing global policy-making by engaging with stakeholders and raising awareness of the role of technology in economic development, through participation in public policy dialogues and venues, including the United Nations (UN), Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and World Economic Forum.
Ms. Olga Cavalli is an Internet leader whose work has been fundamental for advancing a wide range of Internet-related fields in Latina America. Olga currently teaches at the University of Buenos Aires, is the President of the ISOC Argentina Chapter and she is also involved in the development of wireless connectivity projects in rural areas of the center and north of Argentina. Olga works towards the inclusion of girls and women in ICTs and the Internet, organizing activities jointly with ISOC, ISOC Argentina Chapter, ITU, UNESCO, ICANN, the Argentina National Center of Engineers and the University of Buenos Aires.
Dr. Suso Baleato is specialised in the application of computational methods to support scientific inquiry and policy analysis. His research focuses on Internet measurement and the causality of digitalisation, and it has been published in academic outlets such as Science. Dr. Baleato contributes to the global digitalisation policy-making process in the context of the OECD and G7/ G20 dialogue, with an emphasis on privacy and data protection, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. He has been appointed Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS), Martin Associate at the Oxford Cybersecurity Capacity Center, and Liaison of the Civil Society Council for the OECD Committee on the Digital Economy Policy.
Mr. Johannes Rühl is currently serving as Councilor at the Permanent Delegation of Switzerland to the OECD in Paris, where he works on matters related to digital policy, trade, competition and investment. He previously worked for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) dealing with various international trade negotiations. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a PhD from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Name of Online Moderator: Lorrayne Porciuncula (OECD)
Background Paper: going-digital-information-note.pdf
Past IGF Participation: Yes
Report Link:
http://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/index.php?q=filedepot_download/4115/313 Name:
Ms. Lorrayne Porciuncula Organizational Affiliation:
OECD
