The ongoing digital transformation of the economy and society holds many promises to spur innovation, generate efficiencies and improve services, and in doing so boost growth. Digital technologies empower people by increasing access to information and enabling new forms of social engagement. Yet such benefits come with other challenges as digital transformation changes the nature and structure of organisations, markets and communities, and raises concerns about equity and inclusion. Realising the opportunities and addressing the challenges is not automatic and may require policy action to make digital transformation boost growth and improve well-being.
The OECD-Korea Digital Society Initiative (DSI), under the auspices of the OECD Digital Policy Committee (DPC) and supported by Korea, aims to help advance the DPC’s work on the societal aspects of digital transformation, including its implications for human rights, by integrating relevant expertise from across the DPC and its data infrastructures. The DSI provides insights into the impacts of digital transformation and digital technology development on society, and a venue for countries to discuss, exchange and explore policy case studies on related issues. The DSI focuses on three priority areas: digital inclusion and divides; safety; and trust. These themes were chosen as key areas to advance individual and societal well-being in today’s highly digital societies.
This paper represents an output of the DSI. It contributes to a better understanding of key trends in the digital transformation of societies across OECD Member countries and partner economies and it identifies innovative policy practices to maximise the opportunities of digital technologies for people and society and to minimise the related risks.
This paper was written by Angela Attrey and Giorgia Bergamo under the guidance of Molly Lesher and the direction of Audrey Plonk and Jerry Sheehan. Some of the underlying data presented in this report were prepared by Yann Ménière and Anna Casagrande from the European Patent Office (EPO), based on previous work from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the EPO (IEA/EPO, 2024[1]) authored by Simon Bennett, Michael Drtil, Timur Gül, Pablo Hevia-Koch, Konstantina Kaloggiani and Rena Kuwahata (IEA), and Yann Ménière, Kathy Cartrysse, Carla Convertini, Sandro Ferreira Mendonça, Philippe Grosse, Joana Guerra Boavida Ferreira, Wiebke Hinrichs, Javier Hurtado-Albir, Fabrice Poppe and Victor Veefkind. Andreia Furtado and Alice Weber provided editorial and communication support.