Reports

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.

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.

Digital transformations bring about fundamental changes in how institutions – from governments to businesses – operate. National statistical offices (NSOs) face growing expectations from data users and need to adapt their digital capabilities accordingly. For NSOs in low and middle-income countries, who may have had limited exposure to digitalisation to date, keeping pace with rapid technological change is challenging. This report uses examples from six NSOs to explore common barriers for NSOs in their digital transformations and identifies specific drivers. The report makes a case for digital transformations through more comprehensive institutional changes such as governance, procurement and human resources. In addition, the report outlines specific recommendations at the individual, technological, organisational and system level to guide NSOs and their partners towards a successful digital transformation.

The debate on industrial policy has made a comeback in both academic and policy circles. Yet, no consensus exists on an industrial policy paradigm and the absence of a common reference framework unduly obfuscates the debate – even which interventions are to be considered 'industrial policy' is not clear-cut. Against this background, this paper proposes a coherent framework for analysing the formulation of industrial policy, relying on a purposefully broad definition of the latter. Leveraging the proposed framework and a companion paper which synthetises the available empirical evidence, this paper stresses the complementarities between policy instruments, thereby justifying the use of industrial strategies, acknowledges the role of targeted industrial strategies, which can direct technological change and growth, and of demand-side instruments, which can contribute to transformative industrial change, but calls for a stronger emphasis on evaluation and the regular re-assessment of targeted industrial strategies.

While the case for industrial policy is gaining traction across OECD countries, little consensus exists on the effectiveness of such interventions. Building on a new analytical framework for industrial policy developed in a companion paper, this paper reviews the empirical literature on the effectiveness of industrial policy instruments, laying out the knowns and unknowns. Overall, it strongly supports the premise that well-designed economic incentives for firms and good framework conditions shaping the business environment are effective. At the same time, it emphasises the limited and inconclusive nature of the evidence regarding the increasingly frequent targeted and demand-side instruments. Finally, it underlines the complementarities between economic incentives and other interventions such as skill policies or framework conditions, notably competition and trade policies. Framework conditions are indeed key in enabling the most productive firms to grow and an important channel for structural change.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has an unprecedented ambition, but also confronts countries with an enormous challenge given the complex and integrated nature of the Agenda with its 17 Goals, underpinned by 169 Targets. To assist national governments with their implementation, the OECD has developed a unique methodology allowing comparison of progress across SDG goals and targets, and also over time. Based on the Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and leveraging UN and OECD data, this report provides a high-level assessment of OECD Member countries’ performance across the Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda. The report evaluates the distance that OECD countries need to travel to meet SDG targets for which data is currently available, but it goes one step further and deepens the analysis by identifying long-term trends, considering also how these trends may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing a high-level overview of countries’ strengths and weaknesses in performance across the SDGs, it aims to support Member countries in navigating the SDGs and in setting their own priorities for action within the broad 2030 Agenda.

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.

Governments can use artificial intelligence (AI) to design better policies and make better and more targeted decisions, enhance communication and engagement with citizens, and improve the speed and quality of public services. The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is seeking to leverage the immense potential of AI to promote the digital transformation of the public sector. The OECD, in collaboration with CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, prepared this report to help national governments in the LAC region understand the current regional baseline of activities and capacities for AI in the public sector; to identify specific approaches and actions they can take to enhance their ability to use this emerging technology for efficient, effective and responsive governments; and to collaborate across borders in pursuit of a regional vision for AI in the public sector. This report incorporates a stocktaking of each country’s strategies and commitments around AI in the public sector, including their alignment with the OECD AI Principles. It also includes an analysis of efforts to build key governance capacities and put in place critical enablers for AI in the public sector. It concludes with a series of recommendations for governments in the LAC region.