Publications & Documents

New analysis of global investments by venture capitalists (VC) in private companies focused on artificial intelligence (AI) found VC investments in AI to be growing at a dramatic pace. The United States and the People’s Republic of China are leading this wave of investments that tend to concentrate on a few key industries. The data showed that the European Union, United Kingdom and Japan increased investments, but lag behind the two dominant players. The study analysed venture capital investments in 8 300 AI firms worldwide, covering 20 549 transactions between 2012 and 2020, based on data provided by Preqin, a private capital-markets analysis firm in London. The data did not capture every deal and required some extrapolation, yet the timeliness of the findings provides a valuable source of information as national governments, international organisations, public and private sectors develop policies and strategies to capture the benefits of AI for all.

The promotion of widespread, affordable, and high-quality broadband is a prerequisite for the digital transformation of economies and societies. Foreseeing the role of broadband as an accelerator of economic, social and cultural development, the OECD adopted the Council Recommendation on Broadband Development in 2004. Since then, important developments have taken place in broadband technologies and markets. As part of the review of the 2004 Recommendation undertaken from 2018 to 2020 and resulting in the adoption of the revised 2021 OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity, this report examines the evolution of broadband technologies, policies and regulation to foster broadband developments since 2004 as well as the benefits of, and challenges to, accelerating these developments to further enable digital transformation and inclusive growth.

Communication market structures and their effect on delivering efficient and inclusive connectivity is of key interest to policy makers and regulators. This report discusses emerging competition trends in OECD broadband markets that are shaping market structures, covering both fixed and mobile networks. The increasing complementarity of fixed and wireless networks and the convergence of previously separate markets have led to new forms of communication market competition. While convergence has been acting as a driver for market consolidation, there is also increased scrutiny in merger review. Some OECD countries are discussing options to keep mobile communication markets open to new entrants in the context of merger reviews, while others have experienced a recent wave of entry. The report explores the role of horizontal and vertical mergers in communication markets, presents examples of entry in mobile communication markets, and discusses some of effects of entry and consolidation in OECD markets.

Without connectivity, there can be no digital transformation of economies and societies. With this in mind, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Broadband Development was adopted in 2004. Since then, broadband markets, underlying technologies, and the policies in place to spur the development of broadband networks have undergone significant changes. This document summarises the outcome of an extensive questionnaire sent to delegates of OECD countries and stakeholder groups. The questionnaire aimed to gather information on the experience of OECD countries concerning broadband development in general, and more particularly their experience in implementing the 2004 Recommendation. The responses to the questionnaire were used to inform the review and revision of the 2004 Recommendation, which resulted in the adoption of the 2021 OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity.

This study proposes an exploratory analysis of the characteristics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 'actors'. It focuses on entities that deploy AI-related technologies or introduce AI-related goods and services on large international markets. It builds on the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Micro-data Lab infrastructure, and, in particular, on Intellectual Property (IP) rights data (patents and trademarks) combined with company-level data. Statistics on AI-related patents and trademarks show that AI-related activities are strongly concentrated in some countries, sectors, and actors. Development of AI technologies and/or goods and services is mainly due to start-ups or large incumbents, located in the United States, Japan, Korea, or the People’s Republic of China, and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. A majority of these actors operate in ICT-related sectors. The composition of the IP portfolio of the AI actors indicates that AI is frequently combined with a variety of sector-specific technologies, goods, or services.

Building on recent OECD work, this paper analyses the skills sets ('skills bundles') demanded in artificial intelligence (AI)-related online job postings. The analysis uses Burning Glass Technologies’ data for the United States and the United Kingdom and finds that skills related to the open source programming software Python and to machine learning represent 'must-haves' for working with AI. Employers additionally value specialised skills related to robotics, AI development and applying AI. A comparison of the periods 2013-15 and 2017-19 shows that the latter two have become more interrelated over time, with 'neural network' skills connecting both groups. Network analysis relating AI skills to general skills highlights the growing role of socio-emotional skills; and of skill bundles related to programming, management of big data and data analysis. Key results hold for both countries and time periods, though differences emerge across occupations and industries.

This paper presents new evidence on the growing scale of big businesses in the United States, Japan, and Europe. It finds broad evidence of rising industry concentration across the majority of countries and sectors over the period 2002 to 2014. Rising concentration is strongly associated with intensive investment in intangibles, particularly innovative assets, software, and data. This relationship appears to be stronger in more globalised and digital-intensive industries. The results are consistent with intangibles disproportionately benefiting large firms and enabling them to scale up and increase market shares. We find nuanced implications of these new business models for competition – rising markups and reduced churning amongst the top firms, but falling industry prices.