Publications & Documents

Shenzhen is a stellar case of growth and economic transformation. Since its establishment as one of China’s first four Special Economic Zones in 1980, it has evolved at breakneck speed. Shenzhen transformed from a fishing village to a major world trade hub and is now home to global innovators in electronics. The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of Shenzhen, China reviews the city’s changing policy approaches, focusing on the shift from an assembly to a manufacturing centre and more recently to an innovation and start-up hub. Through a comprehensive assessment of Shenzhen’s experience, this review offers insights into the range of policies and strategies employed to stimulate industrial upgrading and learning in China. It provides lessons and actionable policy recommendations for the growth of cities and emerging economies in their catching-up journey. The PTPR of Shenzhen, China has been carried out in the framework of the OECD Initiative for Policy Dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development and has benefitted from government-business dialogues and international peer learning (University of Seoul, Korea; University of Georgetown, USA and Digital India Foundation, India).

The slowdown in market demand for oil is putting increasing pressure on Kuwait's current economic and social model. This model is based on the distribution of petroleum export proceeds to Kuwaiti citizens, with relatively limited long-term investment in knowledge production and the upgrading of the national innovation capacity. The transition towards a knowledge-based society – where value creation, the resolution of societal challenges and the well-being of society at large will be based on the production, diffusion and implementation of knowledge – is becoming an imperative. This is recognised within the national development strategy which formulates the objective of attaining 'Smart Kuwait' by 2035. Such a transition is challenging and can only be achieved through the build-up of appropriate governance of the STI system with adequate institutions such as a Ministry and a professional agency with a mandate for research and innovation. This set-up should help raise awareness and reduce barriers to innovation, reinforce the scientific research base, develop the support for business innovation, foster knowledge diffusion and co‑creation between science and industry, build up the human capital needed, and establish the role of science, technology and innovation in tackling Kuwait's societal challenges.

This is the first report on the state of implementation of the policy recommendations to governments contained in the OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence adopted in May 2019. This report presents a conceptual framework, provides findings, identifies good practices, and examines emerging trends in AI policy, particularly on how countries are implementing the five recommendations to policy makers contained in the OECD AI Principles. The report builds both on the expert input provided at meetings of the OECD.AI Network of Experts working group on national AI policies that took place online from February 2020 to April 2021 and on the EC-OECD database of national AI strategies and policies. As policy makers and AI actors around the world move from principles to implementation, this report aims to inform the implementation of the OECD AI Principles. This report is also a contribution to the OECD AI Policy Observatory.

The importance of knowledge co-creation – the joint production of innovation between industry, research and possibly other stakeholders, such as civil society – has been increasingly acknowledged. This paper builds on 13 cross-country case studies and co-creation experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to characterise the diversity of knowledge co-creation initiatives and identify lessons for policy. The paper identifies a strong rationale for policy to support knowledge co-creation because the benefits of successful co-creation initiatives outweigh the initial co-ordination costs. Moreover, knowledge co-creation initiatives can contribute to democratising innovation. Successful initiatives engage all stakeholders and have effective governance and management structures. They also have clearly defined ownership and use rights of the collaborations’ outcomes and benefit from favourable conditions to operate, including temporary staff mobility and institutional set-ups that facilitate collaboration and effective communication among participants.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to make health care more effective, efficient and equitable. AI applications are on the rise, from clinical decision-making and public health, to biomedical research and drug development, to health system administration and service redesign. The COVID-19 pandemic is serving as a catalyst, yet it is also a reality check, highlighting the limits of existing AI systems. Most AI in health is actually artificial narrow intelligence, designed to accomplish very specific tasks on previously curated data from single settings. In the real world, health data are not always available, standardised, or easily shared. Limited data hinders the ability of AI tools to generate accurate information for diverse populations with potentially very complex conditions. Having appropriate patient data is critical for AI tools because decisions based on models with skewed or incomplete data can put patients at risk. Policy makers should beware of the hype surrounding AI and identify and focus on real problems and opportunities that AI can help address. In setting the foundations for AI to help achieve health policy objectives, one key priority is to improve data quality, interoperability and access in a secure way through better data governance. More broadly, policy makers should work towards implementing and operationalising the OECD AI Principles, as well as investing in technology and human capital. Strong policy frameworks based on inclusive and extensive dialogue among all stakeholders are also key to ensure AI adds value to patients and to societies. AI that influences clinical and public health decisions should be introduced with care. Ultimately, high expectations must be managed, but real opportunities should be pursued.

How might digital technology and notably smart technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), learning analytics, robotics, and others transform education? This book explores such question. It focuses on how smart technologies currently change education in the classroom and the management of educational organisations and systems. The book delves into beneficial uses of smart technologies such as learning personalisation, supporting students with special learning needs, and blockchain diploma credentialing. It also considers challenges and areas for further research. The findings offer pathways for teachers, policy makers, and educational institutions to digitalise education while optimising equity and inclusivity.

Where is the space sector headed? How can public and private actors work together to solve mutual challenges and sustain growth? What is the role of government programmes and funding? This paper addresses these and other questions by reviewing the evolving relationship between public and private actors in the space sector over the last two decades, based on case studies from North America, Europe and Asia. It provides new evidence for navigating the post-Covid-19 era, notably by exploring the range of government roles in supporting space sector innovation and expansion, from funder and developer of space programmes to partner and enabler of private sector growth.

The stability of the labour share of income is a fundamental feature of macroeconomic models, with broad implications for the shape of the production function, inequality, and macroeconomic dynamics. However, empirically, this share has been slowly declining in many countries for several decades, though its causes are subject of much debate. This paper analyses the drivers of labour share developments in Europe at a sectoral level. We begin with a simple shift-share analysis which demonstrates that the decline across countries has been primarily driven by changes within industries. We then use aggregated microdata from CompNet to analyse drivers of sector-level labour shares and to decompose their effects into shifts in the sector average or reallocation of resources between firms. Our main findings are that the advance of globalisation and the widening productivity gap between 'the best and the rest' have negative implications for the labour share. We also find that most of the changes are due to reallocation within sectors providing support for the 'superstar firms' hypothesis. The finding that globalisation has had a negative impact on the labour share is of relevance for policy in the context of the current backlash against globalisation and reinforces the need to ensure benefits of globalisation and productivity are passed on to workers.