Publications & Documents

Large volumes of marine data – much of it collected through observing systems and research projects and made publicly available for reuse by anybody through specialised repositories – are required for science, ocean economic activity and effective management of marine space. This report summarises the results of an OECD survey of the users of Flanders-based public marine data repositories and details how societal value is generated through their data reuses. Responses to the OECD survey reveal how Flanders’ repositories enable the reuse of marine data across a range of sectors, contribute to improved decision making, and generate benefits for wider society. Stylised value chains of public marine data are constructed and visualised from the responses, revealing information that is otherwise not collected by repositories so that they can keep access to the data as open as possible. This work is part of the OECD Value Chains of Public Marine Data project and relates to broader efforts to improve understanding of the economics of open data.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented global economic downturn, affecting productivity, business dynamics, and digital technology adoption. Using a comprehensive commercial database from Spiceworks Ziff Davis, this study analyses the firm-level drivers of digitalisation during the pandemic across 20 European countries. The findings show that a considerable share of firms introduced new digital technologies during the COVID-19 crisis. Notably, firms that were larger, more digitalised, and more productive before the pandemic were more likely to introduce new digital technologies in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, firms with pre-existing complementary technologies had a higher likelihood of adopting digital applications that gained momentum during the pandemic (such as digital commerce, collaborative software, cloud, and analytics). These patterns may increase polarisation among the best-performing firms and the rest of the business population. Public policy can play a key role in fostering an inclusive digital transformation in the post-pandemic era.

Multiple crises are triggering turbulence, instability and insecurity in contemporary societies, with impacts on economies, the environment, politics, and global affairs. An effective response will require governments to be more ambitious and act with greater urgency in their science, technology and innovation (STI) policies to meet global challenges. Sustained investments and greater directionality in research and innovation activities are needed, and these should coincide with a reappraisal of STI systems and STI policies to ensure they are 'fit-for-purpose' to contribute to transformative change agendas. This policy paper provides a framework to support governments in making these assessments. It identifies six STI policy orientations for transformative change that should guide these assessments. It applies these orientations across multiple areas of STI policy, including R&D funding, the research and innovation workforce, and international R&D co-operation, and outlines a series of concrete policy actions STI policymakers can take to accelerate transformative change.

Emerging technologies can contribute to unprecedented gains in health, energy, climate, food systems, and biodiversity. However, these technologies and their convergence sometimes carry risks to privacy, security, equity and human rights. This dual-edged nature of emerging technology requires policies that better anticipate disruptions and enable technology development for economic prosperity, resilience, security and sustainable development. Drawing on prior OECD work and legal instruments, this framework equips governments, other innovation actors and societies to anticipate and get ahead of governance challenges, and build longer-term capacities to shape innovation more effectively. Its 'anticipatory technology governance' approach consists of five interdependent elements and associated governance tools: (1) embeding values throughout the innovation process; (2) enhancing foresight and technology assessment; (3) engaging stakeholders and society; (4) building regulation that is agile and adaptive; and (5) reinforcing international cooperation in science and norm-making. The emerging technology context determines how each of these elements is applied.

The Autonomous Province of Trento (Trentino) is among the most productive regions in Europe, but over the past two decades its productivity growth has stagnated. As a result, the productivity gap of Trentino widened by over 20% compared to regions with the same productivity level in 2000. The benchmarking of productivity drivers in Trentino with those of 'peer' regions points to several policy priorities, including: reviving productivity in tradeable sectors, also through increased internationalisation; increasing the share of the labour force with a tertiary education; and getting more out of public R&D while boosting private sector R&D.

Where anti-corruption efforts were previously the domain of governments, the private sector has increasingly become an essential actor, representing a significant paradigm shift from the early days of anti-corruption policy development. This Resource Guide provides States with a framework for identifying and implementing an appropriate mix of sanctions and incentives for encouraging business integrity. It reflects the latest developments in the global anti-corruption landscape and contains case studies that serve to share information and practices and provide inspiration to States and the private sector.

This paper conducts an in-depth mapping of global value chain (GVC) vulnerabilities, using granular product-level trade data to identify vulnerable products with limited suppliers and substitutability. The study reveals that, in OECD countries, approximately 8% of foreign-sourced intermediate products are vulnerable, with about 50 products identified as highly vulnerable, particularly in the pharmaceutical, mining, and manufacturing sectors. The paper also introduces a quantitative framework for simulating supply shock transmission from upstream suppliers to downstream industries over the short and medium term. This framework leverages unique data that combine Inter-Country Input-Output with detailed product-level trade data from Comtrade. Through simulation exercises, the paper highlights the role of supplier concentration and geography in shock transmissions, as well as the effectiveness of policies in mitigating these impacts. This novel cross-country assessment of GVC disruptions provides new insights on how to manage supply chains in a global economy subject to multiple risks.

The OECD Global Corporate Sustainability Report aims to enhance the adoption of corporate governance policies that promote the sustainability and resilience of companies. It examines the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability practices worldwide and includes a focus on key dimensions outlined in the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, such as sustainability-related disclosure, shareholder-company dialogue, board responsibilities, and stakeholder interests. It offers comprehensive data analysis specifically designed to meet the needs of policymakers, regulators, and market participants.

Since 2020, a series of shocks to the global economy has had significant impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs and their access to finance. Most recently, significant inflationary pressures have led to tighter lending conditions, limiting the flow of finance to SMEs and acting as a barrier to investment. Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2024: An OECD Scoreboard monitors SME and entrepreneurship financing trends, conditions and policy developments in close to 50 countries. It documents a strong increase in the cost of SME financing in 2022, alongside a significant decline in SME lending. Equity finance also fell sharply in 2022, after a year of historically high growth in 2021. Women-led and minority-owned businesses, which typically find it more difficult to access venture capital financing, were affected disproportionately. Against this backdrop, the Scoreboard highlights the recent measures governments have taken to support SME access to finance, including finance for the green transition. A continued focus on diversifying financial sources and instruments will be important to meet the different needs of all types of SMEs and entrepreneurs, and enable them to act as an engine of resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth.