Reports

Since 2019, digital transformation has been a clear policy priority in Uzbekistan. While the country has made significant progress in terms of Internet access, quality and affordability, digital uptake among firms remains low. This lack of digital skills seems to be a limiting factor affecting the digital transformation of business. Based on recent OECD work on digitalisation, this report examines what is holding back the digital upskilling of businesses in Uzbekistan. It suggests three sets of policy actions: (1) developing a supportive institutional framework for the digital uptake of firms; (2) raising firms’ awareness of the importance of acquiring digital and complementary skills; and (3) expanding existing support to digitalise while addressing the gender digital divide.

In recent years, Kazakhstan has developed a comprehensive digital government system and begun to create the legal and regulatory conditions for the digital transformation of the country’s economy. The digitalisation of the private sector requires further improvements in framework conditions, such as reliable access to broadband services, quality and affordability of networks, and digital security for businesses. Based on recent OECD work on digital framework conditions, this report examines the legal and operational environment that is holding back the digital transformation of private firms in Kazakhstan. The report suggests three sets of actions: (1) addressing the remaining Internet quality and connectivity gaps, notably by mobilising the regional public sector to improve the quality and density of networks, and by expanding the inclusion of the private sector in the policy-making process; (2) improving competition in, and the investment attractiveness of, the telecom sector by setting-up an independent national telecom regulator, and by developing a targeted investment attraction strategy to prepare for deployment of next-generation communication networks; and (3) adapting the regulatory and policy framework for firms adapting to new digital challenges and raising their awareness of digital security.

This Digital Government Review of Türkiye explores how the Government of Türkiye can use digital technology and data to help the public sector become more responsive, resilient and proactive. It evaluates the efforts made so far by Türkiye in achieving digital government maturity by looking at governance, institutional capacities, digital skills, public service design and delivery, enabling building blocks and the strategic management and use of data. The review provides policy recommendations intended to help the Government of Türkiye fully benefit from digital technologies and data to realise the potential of the digital age in transforming the public sector and the services provided to the public.

This report uses business consultations to investigate private-sector views on privacy and data protection rules for cross-border data flows. It aims to inform a more comprehensive understanding of challenges and ways forward for the policy agenda of ‘data free flow with trust’. While frameworks aimed at generating trust and facilitating data flows build on commonalities and elements of convergence, businesses identify challenges to fully operationalise them at the global level. In particular, businesses indicate the need for coherent principles and rules that are transparent and predictable, provide a practical balance between certainty and flexibility, and offer solutions that match business realities. Finally, the report highlights the need for greater international regulatory co-operation and leveraging the full range of options to uphold trust around privacy and data protection globally.

This document presents the principles of good practice for public communication responses to mis- and disinformation. The Principles aim to help governments counter mis- and disinformation via the public communication function and other policy responses through strengthening domestic and international media and information ecosystems and reinforcing democracy. This document identifies nine common principles underpinning good practices for how governments can engage with partners across citizens, civil society and the private sector, based on evidence and interventions observed around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

AI language models are a key component of natural language processing (NLP), a field of artificial intelligence (AI) focused on enabling computers to understand and generate human language. Language models and other NLP approaches involve developing algorithms and models that can process, analyse and generate natural language text or speech trained on vast amounts of data using techniques ranging from rule-based approaches to statistical models and deep learning. The application of language models is diverse and includes text completion, language translation, chatbots, virtual assistants and speech recognition. This report offers an overview of the AI language model and NLP landscape with current and emerging policy responses from around the world. It explores the basic building blocks of language models from a technical perspective using the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems. The report also presents policy considerations through the lens of the OECD AI Principles.

This report analyses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in firms across 11 countries. Based on harmonised statistical code (AI diffuse) applied to official firm-level surveys, it finds that the use of AI is prevalent in ICT and Professional Services and more widespread across large – and to some extent across young – firms. AI users tend to be more productive, especially the largest ones. Complementary assets, including ICT skills, high-speed digital infrastructure, and the use of other digital technologies, which are significantly related to the use of AI, appear to play a critical role in the productivity advantages of AI users.

National Statistical Offices face a growing policy demand for better statistics on digital platform employment and work. New statistical definitions are needed to avoid undercounting the number of people involved in these jobs. In addition, new sources of data, including non-official ones, may be needed to meet the statistical challenges of measuring digital platform employment and work. The OECD, the International Labour Organisation and the European Commission have joined forces to produce this Handbook on Measuring Digital Platform Employment and Work, which assesses measurement options and provides first recommendations on these issues. The Handbook first proposes a general definition of digital platform work and a conceptual framework that helps identify the key features of digital platform employment and work, which statisticians should bear in mind when designing their research objectives and operational protocol. The Handbook then reviews the main statistical vehicles used for measuring digital platform employment, and discusses previous statistical initiatives by National Statistical Offices through the lens of its conceptual framework.

The OECD Public Governance Review of the Czech Republic identifies priority governance areas for reform in the Czech Republic and offers recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness, agility and responsiveness of the country’s public sector. The review first provides a snapshot on the effectiveness of the public administration and its capacity to address contemporary governance challenges, such as digitalisation and climate change. It then analyses a number of critical and priority public governance areas including citizen engagement, centre-of-government-led co-ordination and strategic planning, evidence-informed policy making in the Czech public administration, public administration at the local and regional level, human resources management in the public administration, and digital government. It also includes a case study on governance arrangements and regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review provides recommendations for the Czech public administration to help it implement its Public Administration Reform Strategy: Client-oriented Public Administration 2030 (PAR), achieve the objectives of the PAR, and, ultimately, realise its longer-term sustainable development vision and commitments.

New OECD surveys of employers and workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors of seven countries shed new light on the impact that Artificial Intelligence has on the workplace —an under-researched area to date due to lack of data. The findings suggest that both workers and their employers are generally very positive about the impact of AI on performance and working conditions. However, there are also concerns, including about job loss—an issue that should be closely monitored. The surveys also indicate that, while many workers trust their employers when it comes to the implementation of AI in the workplace, more can be done to improve trust. In particular, the surveys show that both training and worker consultation are associated with better outcomes for workers.