Foreword
The OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 examines and documents evolutions and emerging opportunities and challenges in the digital economy. It highlights how OECD countries and partner economies are taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet to meet their public policy objectives. Through comparative evidence, it informs policy makers of regulatory practices and policy options to help maximise the potential of the digital economy as a driver for innovation and inclusive growth.
This third edition of the OECD Digital Economy Outlook provides a holistic overview of converging trends, policy developments and data on both the supply and demand sides of the digital economy. It illustrates how the digital transformation is affecting economies and societies. Finally, it provides a special focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic is amplifying opportunities and challenges from the digital transformation.
The OECD Secretariat prepared the OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 under the guidance of the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP), chaired by Yoichi Iida (Japan). The publication has benefited from the input of delegates to the Committee and its Working Parties on Communications Infrastructure Services Policy (CISP), on Measurement and Analysis of the Digital Economy (MADE), on Security in the Digital Economy (SDE) and on Privacy and Data Governance (PDG). A large part of its content builds on responses by OECD countries and partner economies to the 2019 OECD Digital Economy Policy Questionnaire.
The OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 was prepared by the Division on Digital Economy Policy in the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation. The publication was co-ordinated by Elif Koksal-Oudot and Vincenzo Spiezia, under the supervision of Audrey Plonk, Head of Division. Authors include, in alphabetical order, Brigitte Acoca, Laurent Bernat, Frédéric Bourassa, Lauren Bourke, Thyme Burdon, Ghislain De Salins, Laura Galindo-Romero, David Gierten, Alexia González-Fanfalone, Louise Hatem, Suguru Iwaya, Daniel Ker, Elif Koksal-Oudot, Jaeho Lee, Molly Lesher, Christopher Lomax, Emanuele Mazzini, Andras Molnar, Pierre Montagnier, Matthew Nuding, Karine Perset, Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze, Elettra Ronchi, Lucia Russo, Vincenzo Spiezia, Jan Tscheke, Verena Weber and Jeremy West.
Further inputs were provided by Sarah Box, Dirk Pilat and Andy Wyckoff (all chapters); Michela Bello, Hélène Dernis, Fernando Galindo-Rueda, Brigitte van Beuzekom and Fabien Verger (Chapter 9); Felipe González-Zapata (Chapter 4); Marco Bianchini and Sandrine Kergroach (Chapters 4 and 11); Stijn Broecke (Chapter 10); and Caroline Malcolm (Chapter 11). Linde Wester contributed the section on quantum computing in Chapter 11 as an external author. Mark Foss and Angela Gosmann provided editorial support. Marion Barberis, Sarah Ferguson and Alice Weber provided assistance with formatting.
The OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) declassified the OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 on 24 September 2020 by written procedure. The OECD Secretariat prepared it for publication.