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Shenzhen is a stellar case of growth and economic transformation. Since its establishment as one of China’s first four Special Economic Zones in 1980, it has evolved at breakneck speed. Shenzhen transformed from a fishing village to a major world trade hub and is now home to global innovators in electronics. The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of Shenzhen, China reviews the city’s changing policy approaches, focusing on the shift from an assembly to a manufacturing centre and more recently to an innovation and start-up hub. Through a comprehensive assessment of Shenzhen’s experience, this review offers insights into the range of policies and strategies employed to stimulate industrial upgrading and learning in China. It provides lessons and actionable policy recommendations for the growth of cities and emerging economies in their catching-up journey. The PTPR of Shenzhen, China has been carried out in the framework of the OECD Initiative for Policy Dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development and has benefitted from government-business dialogues and international peer learning (University of Seoul, Korea; University of Georgetown, USA and Digital India Foundation, India).

Much has changed in the space economy over the past decade, with an ever-growing number of countries and business enterprises involved in space activities. Despite progress made in the quality and availability of data, the international comparability of space economy statistics remains limited. A decade after its first publication, it is therefore time to provide an up-to-date revision of the OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy to reflect the changing landscape of space activities, space technologies and subsequent evolving user needs. This new edition aims to encourage and facilitate data collection among both incumbents and new actors involved in space activities, respond to the needs of the public agencies that still fund the bulk of space programmes, and support industry and private decision-takers who will also benefit from improved statistics on the space economy.

Responsibilities for research integrity and security are distributed across multiple actors in the international research ecosystem. These include, national governments, research funding agencies, research institutions, universities, academic associations, and intergovernmental organisations. This report describes policy initiatives and actions to safeguard national and economic security whilst protecting freedom of enquiry, promoting international research cooperation, and ensuring openness and non-discrimination. It includes examples of actions that are being taking to prevent foreign interference, manage risks, and help ensure trust in science in the future, and offers recommendations to help countries develop effective policies to strengthen research security as part of a broader framework of research integrity.

The OECD Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment provides guidance for governments and other stakeholders on putting in place policies and procedures to empower and protect children in the digital environment. The Recommendation was developed in recognition that the digital environment is a fundamental part of children’s daily lives, and that strong policy frameworks are needed to both protect children from any potential harm, and to help them realise the opportunities that it can bring. This companion document aims to assist governments and other stakeholders in implementing the Recommendation. It expands upon the context in which the Recommendation was developed, and considers in detail specific aspects of the Recommendation, in particular different stakeholders and their roles (e.g. parents, governments, digital service providers) as well as key underlying concepts such as children’s privacy, digital literacy and child safety by design.

This paper analyses the evolution of the funding, governance and policy context of research and technology organisations (RTOs) over the last ten years, and the implications of these changes on their ability to achieve their mission. It shows that their contribution to solving societal challenges is now tightly intertwined with their historical mission of supporting innovation in industry and public administrations. Delivering on this increasingly demanding mission in evolving and sometimes unstable funding frameworks has led them to experiment with new internal organisational structures, business models and partnerships. The paper also draws implications for policy makers who play a key role in setting the environment in which RTOs operate and that determines in part their ability to deliver on the twin imperatives of strengthening economic competitiveness and tackling societal challenges.

Education systems can build on school-led micro-innovations during the pandemic to develop more equitable learning. Empowering teachers to be autonomous, actively engaged in designing learning environments, and knowledgeable and dynamic in using multi-modal technology can encourage more peer-to-peer collaboration in schools and enrich pedagogy. This will be crucial in addressing the learning needs of disadvantaged students and boosting science proficiency with the goal of societal equity.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems are in a period of rapid development and offer significant potential for the promotion of health and well-being. At the same time, they raise a range of unique ethical, legal, and policy questions, and few BCI-specific rules exist in a fragmented regulatory landscape. This report aims to help develop a responsible and anticipatory governance approach to promote innovation while shaping the trajectory of technology through a set of mechanisms, including (i) soft law, (ii) standardisation and ethics-by-design approaches, (iii) corporate self-governance, and (iv) participatory experiments for upstream governance.