Latest Documents

This paper presents new evidence on the size and direction of governments’ R&D funding response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the exploration of a novel data infrastructure, the OECD Fundstat initiative for the analysis of government-funded R&D projects. The document reports on the exploratory development and application of automatic classification tools to detect relevant COVID-19 R&D funding, map salient topics and classify and allocate project funding according to priorities in the WHO COVID-19 R&D Blueprint, as well as comparing results with similar analysis of scientific publication output data. The results provide new insights on which areas of enquiry were prioritised by governmental R&D funding bodies.

This report explores the current state of Internet of Things (IoT) adoption and usage in OECD countries among businesses, households, and individuals. It analyzes IoT trends based on semiconductors, patents, venture capital investments, and firms. Additionally, it includes two case studies that examine the implementation of IoT in manufacturing and healthcare.

This document reports on the final output of the OECD microBeRD+ project. Drawing on the outcomes of previous work, this study presents new evidence on the impact of business R&D support policies – tax incentives and direct forms of support – on business R&D investment (R&D input additionality) and the innovation and economic performance of firms (R&D output additionality). The report also provides an exploratory analysis of R&D spillovers.

En mai 2023, les dirigeants du G7 ont recensé les thèmes à examiner dans le cadre du processus d’Hiroshima et demandé l’établissement rapide d’un état des lieux des possibilités et enjeux associés à l’IA générative. Ce rapport donne à voir les réponses reçues à un questionnaire conçu pour faciliter cet état des lieux et doit étayer les échanges du G7 au sujet des priorités d’action communes en ce qui concerne cette technologie. Il permet également de brosser une rapide vue d’ensemble de son évolution dans le temps et dans l’espace. Le rapport et les réponses au questionnaire doivent être considérés comme le reflet de la situation à un instant T : ils donnent une idée des tendances observables à l’été 2023, dans un contexte technologique en mutation rapide. Le rapport a contribué à éclairer et structurer les discussions tenues dans le cadre du processus du G7, dit d’Hiroshima, sur l’IA.

This report assesses the continued relevance of the OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws Protecting Privacy, originally adopted in 2007. It examines whether the Recommendation has kept pace with the evolving needs of Privacy Enforcement Authorities (PEAs) in light of significant technological and legal changes over the past 15 years. While the principles underlying the Recommendation are seen to remain solid, the report highlights several gaps and challenges for cross-border enforcement co-operation. It concludes that the OECD could either provide additional guidance to support the implementation of the Recommendation or consider revising it to better address current challenges.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) creates new content in response to prompts, offering transformative potential across multiple sectors such as education, entertainment, healthcare and scientific research. However, these technologies also pose critical societal and policy challenges that policy makers must confront: potential shifts in labour markets, copyright uncertainties, and risk associated with the perpetuation of societal biases and the potential for misuse in the creation of disinformation and manipulated content. Consequences could extend to the spreading of mis- and disinformation, perpetuation of discrimination, distortion of public discourse and markets, and the incitement of violence. Governments recognise the transformative impact of generative AI and are actively working to address these challenges. This paper aims to inform these policy considerations and support decision makers in addressing them.

The digital security of communication networks is crucial to the functioning of our societies. Four trends are shaping networks, raising digital security implications: i) the increasing criticality of communication networks, ii) increased virtualisation of networks and use of cloud services, iii) a shift towards more openness in networks and iv) the role of artificial intelligence in networks. These trends bring benefits and challenges to digital security. While digital security ultimately depends on the decisions made by private actors (e.g. network operators and their suppliers), the report underlines the role governments can play to enhance the digital security of communication networks. It outlines key policy objectives and actions governments can take to incentivise the adoption of best practices and support stakeholders to reach an optimal level of digital security, ranging from light-touch to more interventionist approaches.

This report provides an overview of the policies and procedures for addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) material across the global top-50 online content-sharing services. It finds that only 10 of the 50 services define CSEA with sufficient detail to understand what is prohibited on their services, and only 20 of the services issue a transparency report on CSEA. Even among those services, there are significant variations in what behaviour is captured in their definitions, and the metrics, methodology and frequency of transparency reports differ across platforms. While good practices exist, the report reveals a fragmented response to this complex and evolving problem, which limits comparability and makes it challenging to conduct a thorough assessment of the overall impact of platforms’ efforts to combat CSEA.

This report analyses the career options of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. It identifies policies and practices to promote diverse careers, flexible career trajectories and ultimately better-quality research and innovation across different economic and social sectors. The report presents a conceptual framework and synthesis of available data and policy information. It offers recommendations and a set of policy options to: promote engagement and interaction with employers outside academia; provide researchers with experience and skills for diverse careers; encourage valorisation of diverse career options; support career development and guidance for researchers; promote inter-sectoral mobility; and, reconfigure and support careers in academia.