Publications & Documents

As the pace of technological change accelerates, reaching the digital frontier – and staying there – is increasingly challenging. This report analyses Norway’s digital performance, policies and priorities to inform the development of a new national digital strategy that seeks to sharpen Norway’s competitive edge and ensure that digital transformation benefits all Norwegians. It outlines the digital priorities and trends that will shape Norway’s digital future and maps its digital policy ecosystem. The report further assesses Norway’s digital performance based on the OECD Going Digital Toolkit dashboard of indicators and analyses its digital policies through the lens of the OECD Going Digital Integrated Policy Framework. It concludes with policy recommendations to achieve a more digital, innovative and inclusive Norway.

As part of broader digitalisation efforts, half of public employment services (PES) in OECD countries are employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their services. AI is being adopted across all key tasks of PES, including most commonly to match jobseekers with vacancies. While several PES have been using such tools for a decade, adoption of AI has been increasing in recent years as these become more accessible. New AI use cases have emerged to assist employers in designing vacancy postings and jobseekers in their career management and job-search strategies. AI initiatives have significant impact on PES clients, changing how they interact with the PES and receive support, and PES staff, altering their day-to-day work. As PES seek to maximise the opportunities brought by AI, proactive steps should be taken to mitigate associated risks. Key considerations for PES include prioritising transparency of AI algorithms and explainability of results, establishing governance frameworks, ensuring end-users (staff and clients) are included and supported in the development and adoption process, and committing to rigorous monitoring and evaluation to increase the positive and manage any negative impact of AI solutions.

This report provides an international benchmarking of Germany’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and discusses progress in implementing its national AI strategy. The report draws on quantitative and qualitative data and insights from the OECD.AI Policy Observatory and from the OECD Programme on AI in Work, Innovation, Productivity and Skills (AI-WIPS) – an OECD research programme financed by the German Federal Government – and results from a series of interviews with a wide range of stakeholders in Germany. The review discusses Germany’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges in AI, and provides recommendations to steer AI policy in Germany in the coming years. The evidence is presented according to the core focus areas outlined in Germany’s national AI strategy, which include: 1) minds; 2) research; 3) transfer and applications; 4) the world of work; 5) policy and regulatory frameworks; and 6) society. Furthermore, the report discusses AI infrastructure and it includes three sector spotlights on AI in the public sector, AI and environmental sustainability and AI and healthcare.

This paper discusses recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, which could positively impact many markets. While it is important that markets remain competitive to ensure their benefits are widely felt, the lifecycle for generative AI is still developing. This paper focuses on three stages: training foundation models, fine-tuning and deployment. It is too early to say how competition will develop in generative AI, but there appear to be some risks to competition that warrant attention, such as linkages across the generative AI value chain, including from existing markets, and potential barriers to accessing key inputs such as quality data and computing power. Several competition authorities and policy makers are taking actions to monitor market developments and may need to use the various advocacy and enforcement tools at their disposal. Furthermore, co-operation could play an important role in allowing authorities to efficiently maintain their knowledge and expertise.

Digital technologies not only offer a vast potential to enhance firm productivity, they can also help enhance resilience and support economic recovery in times of war. The government has made significant strides in accelerating the digital transformation and has reinforced support for digitalisation since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. While digital technologies have brought significant benefits to the country, Ukraine’s SMEs are yet to fully tap into the potential of digitalisation. Beyond war-related challenges, lack of awareness, digital skills shortages, sectoral specificities, and financial constraints complicate their digital development. The government aims to further promote SME digitalisation and is currently preparing its SME Strategy 2024-27. Throughout 2023, the OECD provided guidance to Ukraine on how to help SMEs leverage digitalisation for productivity, resilience, and recovery. This report presents an overview of the findings, looking at i) ways to strengthen the national and subnational institutional and policy framework for SME digitalisation; ii) avenues for targeted digitalisation support services for SMEs, building on the OECD’s blueprint; and iii) specific ways digitalisation can help SMEs weather war-related challenges.

The 2019 Egyptian National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy is a key catalyst for digital transformation in Egypt and supports the country’s sustainable development agenda. As North Africa’s biggest economy, Egypt faces a challenging economic and demographic context, including high inflation and a high youth unemployment rate. As the first Arab and African country to adhere to the OECD Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence in 2021, Egypt has made progress in implementing the OECD AI Principles. This country review explores the state of implementation of the OECD AI Principles in Egypt by providing a mapping of Egypt’s AI governance and policy implementation through gap analysis, comparative analysis, and benchmarking. It highlights key findings and recommendations to strengthen Egypt’s AI ecosystem and facilitate the development of inclusive, responsible, and human-centric AI policies and practices that support Egypt’s development agenda and stand the test of time.

This paper details the methodology used to nowcast the growth rate of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in the 'The growth outlook of the ICT sector' chapter of the OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2024, Volume 1. In an era of rapid digital transformation, innovative data sources for economic measurement are crucial. Internet search data have gained prominence for tracking real-time economic activity. This paper details a nowcasting model that leverages Google Trends data to provide policymakers with timely, up-to-date and comparable data on the economic growth of the ICT sector. Having timely data on ICT sector performance is essential to evaluating the effectiveness of sector-related policies. By addressing data challenges and employing a data-driven approach, this paper advances economic measurement of the digitalisation of the economy and provides insights into ICT sector growth dynamics.

Les Perspectives de l’économie numérique de l’OCDE 2024 (Volume 1) : Cap sur la frontière technologique apportent de nouveaux éclairages sur les technologies phares qui sous-tendent l’écosystème de technologies numériques ainsi que leurs impacts. Dans ce premier volume, les auteurs se sont appuyés sur des données massives et des techniques d’apprentissage automatique pour produire de nouvelles estimations du taux de croissance du secteur des technologies de l’information et des communications (STI), qui est au cœur de l’écosystème. Ils se sont ensuite tournés vers la frontière technologique, s’intéressant à l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) et aux moyens de la façonner de manière à en faire une force positive. Ce Volume 1 propose également une analyse de l’adoption des technologies numériques par les individus, les entreprises et les administrations et donne à voir l’ampleur et la portée des fractures numériques et les solutions pour favoriser l’égalité des chances et l’inclusion. Pour ce faire, on se penche sur l’impérieuse nécessité que les réseaux sans fil de nouvelle génération fournissent une connectivité illimitée, en tout lieu. Au-delà de l’engouement suscité par les technologies immersives, on examine la capacité avérée de la réalité virtuelle à se prêter à un déploiement à grande échelle, avant d’en exposer les possibilités et les risques. Enfin, on donne un coup de projecteur à la question de la santé mentale dans les environnements numériques, en particulier ceux présentant les risques les plus élevés.