Remarks by Angel Gurría
OECD Secretary-General
11 March 2019 - Paris, France
(As prepared for delivery)
Prime Minister Pellegrini, Director-General Azoulay, Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Welcome to the OECD Going Digital Summit. Welcome to the genesis of our digital future. Welcome to the incubator of better digital policies for better lives!
I am delighted to see so much expertise and decision-making power gathered around the table. It is exciting to discuss the digital transformation with stakeholders from business, labour, civil society, the technical community and academia, as well as governments. You are the active participants in the Going Digital journey. Your presence here is critical.
The digital transformation is not new, but the pace of change has quickened, with our hyperconnected societies generating huge volumes of data of all kinds.
This flood of data is transforming value generation, decision-making and production, similarly to how new materials or the advent of combustion engines transformed economies and societies in past eras.
This transformation brings countless opportunities to improve well-being, from health care to education to the environment. The smartphone in your pocket can use AI to detect possible health issues, or speech recognition to offer on-the-spot translation. Camera-carrying robots can inspect the interior of oil pipelines, looking for fissures and averting environmental damage.
Yet such benefits are accompanied by new pitfalls. Digital transformation is raising concerns about labour market polarisation and skill mismatches, breaches of privacy and security, growing market power for leading firms, and tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. It is also raising new concerns about inclusion and equality: more than 4 in 10 rural households don’t have access to high-speed broadband, while big data analysis is only performed by 11% of firms.
The benefits and downsides raise challenges for policy makers in weighing costs and benefits associated with different policy options. Ban ride-sharing because it violates rules governing taxis and you may make it harder for poor people to get to work. Overly limit data access because of privacy concerns and you may cut off avenues of research on dementia. At the same time, too light a touch may allow a concentration of power and even undermine democratic institutions.
These issues not only touch virtually every aspect of domestic policy, but also raise many cross-border issues, including digital trade. They have risen to the top of the policy agenda at the UN – including ITU and UNESCO -- as well as other international bodies, including the G20, the G7, the EU, APEC and here at the OECD.
In 2016, Ministers meeting in Cancun recognised the need for a coherent whole-of-government approach to the digital transformation, and launched the OECD Going Digital project. Work started in 2017 across 10 different OECD Directorates, involving more than 14 different policy committees.
From the outset, the aim has been to strive for outcomes that put people at the centre – empowered by digital technologies, not controlled or impoverished by them.
This effort has leveraged the best measurement, analysis and policy thinking, and has allowed us to produce a unique tool for governments – the OECD’s Going Digital Integrated Policy Framework.
This is the first time that a holistic policy approach to the digital transformation has been formulated. It underpins the three resources we are launching today:
These products, and the more than 100 reports standing behind them, are only the beginning. Last month, we released a report on well-being in the digital age. In coming months you will see several other reports drawing on the Going Digital work: the OECD Employment Outlook, Skills Outlook, work on tax and trade, and more.
But first, this Summit will take us into the rich detail of the seven pillars of our policy framework, which relate to enhancing access; increasing effective use; unleashing innovation; ensuring good jobs for all; promoting social prosperity; strengthening trust; and fostering market openness.
We want to bridge digital divides for people and firms. We want to help empower people to succeed in a rapidly changing digital world of work. We want to strengthen trust and enhance access to data to drive innovation. And we want to build the next generation of data and indicators capable of monitoring and shaping the digital transformation. It is an ambitious project, I know, but the OECD can make magic when working with people like you!
Distinguished leaders, experts and colleagues:
A successful digital transformation is about preparing people and governments to turn digital technologies into human development magic. In the words of the MIT scientist George Westerman: “When the digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.” The OECD is ready to help you conceive that butterfly!
This Summit can make it happen! Let’s get to work. Thank you.
OECD work on Science and Technology
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