8-9 November 2018  London, United Kingdom

 

The ongoing digital transformation holds the promise of improving productivity performance by enabling innovation and reducing the costs of a range of business processes. But at the same time as the rapid rise of digital technologies our economies have experienced a slowdown in productivity growth, sparking a lively debate about the potential for digital technologies to boost productivity. Today, as in the 1980s, when Nobel­ prize winner Robert Solow famously quipped: "we see computers everywhere but in the productivity statistics" there is again a paradox of rapid technological change and slow productivity growth.

Jointly organised by the OECD and the United Kingdom Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), this conference discussed factors that could explain such a puzzle and explored the role of policies in helping our economies realise the productivity benefit from this transformation. A video recording of the conference will be made available at a later date. For further information about the event, please contact petia.petrova@oecd.org

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• Agenda (pdf)
• Conference summary (pdf)
• List of speakers (pdf)  
  
     

Background documents and speakers' presentations by session

• Going Digital in a Multilateral World - An interim report to ministers
  
• Introductory remarks to the keynote address, Laurence Boone, OECD Chief Economist
• Digital technologies: Economic growth and the future of work, keynote by John Van Reenen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

1. Adoption of new digital tools and disruptive technology: What is the role of skills and policy?

• A Taxonomy of Digital-Intensive Sectors
• Digital Technology Diffusion: A matter of capabilities, incentives or both?
• Adoption of new digital tools: The role of skills and policy, presentation by Baroness Alison Wolf, King's College London
• Technology adoption: Productivity, digitisation and AI, presentation by Hugh Milward, Microsoft

2. The impact of the digital transformation on productivity

• Digital Technology Diffusion: A matter of capabilities, incentives or both?
• The Future of Productivity: What contribution can digital transformation make?
• The impact of digital transformation on productivity, presentation by Carol Corrado, The Conference Board and Center for Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
• Long waves? The evolving role of ICT in the economy, presentation by Mirko Draca, Wariwck University & Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics
• Digitization, AI and productivity, presentation by James Manyika, McKinsey Global Institute

3. Competition in a digital world

• Algorithms and Collusion: Competition policy in the digital age
• Competition Assessment in Light of Digitalisation: A synthesis
• Rethinking Antitrust Tools for Multi-Sided Platforms
• Competition online, big data, etc., presentation by Adam Cohen, Google
• Standards and competition, presentation by Bob Fay, Centre for International Governance Innovation

4. Business dynamics and entrepreneurship

• Mark-ups in the Digital Era
• Business dynamics and entrepreneurship: The Canadian perspective, presentation by Joy Senack, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
• Business dynamics and entrepreneurship, presentation by Geoff Mulgan, NESTA
• Innovation-driven best practices for public/private sectors, presentation by Carmen Benitez, Fetch Blockchain Limited
• The impact of digitalization: Challenges for governments, firms and entrepreneurs, presentation by Kjell-Håkan Närfelt, VINNOVA, Sweden's Innovation Agency

5. Tax challenges arising from digitalisation

• Tax Challenges Arising from Digitalisation Interim Report 2018 - Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
• Tax challenges arising from digitalisation, presentation by Grace Perez-Navarro, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
• The taxation of non-standard work, presentation by Anna Milanez, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration

6. International trade in the digital era

• Digital Trade and Market Openness
• Trade and data flows (policy note)
• Trade in the digital era (policy note)
• WTO World Trade Report 2018 - The future of world trade: How digital technologies are transforming global commerce
  
• World Trade Report 2018: Implications of the digital transformation for the business sector, presentation by Robert Koopman, Chief Economist, WTO
• International trade in the digital era - data and telecoms matter, presentation by Tilmann Kupfer, BT Group
   

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Related work

• OECD Going Digital project
• OECD work on employment and productivity