Foreword

This Going Digital Guide to Data Governance Policy Making (hereafter the Guide) provides a practical tool to help policy makers design effective, technology-neutral, forward-looking and coherent data governance policies across sectors and jurisdictions. Complementing the report Going Digital to Advance Data Governance for Growth and Well-being, the Guide is another key outcome of the third phase of the OECD Going Digital project focusing on data governance for growth and well-being. The OECD Going Digital project is led by the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, under the oversight of Deputy Secretary-General Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, and the leadership and guidance of Andrew Wyckoff, Director, and Audrey Plonk, Head of the Digital Economy Policy Division. Angela Attrey, Gallia Daor and Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze served as the project co-ordinators for the third phase (2021-22) of the project.

The Guide was drafted by Francesca Casalini and Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze with input from Angela Attrey and Gallia Daor. It draws on the work of the project’s co-leads from five OECD Directorates, including the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (Angela Attrey, Francesca Casalini, Audrey Plonk, Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze, Vincenzo Spiezia and Jeremy West), the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (Tiago Cravo Oliveira Hashiguchi and Jillian Oderkirk), the Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs (Antonio Capobianco and James Mancini), the Trade and Agriculture Directorate (Javier López-González) and the Statistics and Data Directorate (John Mitchell and Jorrit Zwijnenburg).

The Guide also benefits from the input and research of the project’s focal points from across the OECD, including the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (Brigitte Acoca, Luis Aranda, Christian Biesmans, Sara Calligaris, Flavio Calvino, Alessandra Colecchia, David Gierten, Nicholas McSpedden-Brown, Simon Lange, Molly Lesher, Alan Paic and Jan Tscheke), the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (Rudiger Ahrend, Marco Bianchini, Sandrine Kergroach and Lora Pissareva), the Development Co-operation Directorate (Eleanor Carey and Ida McDonnell), the Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs (Oliver Garrett-Jones and Iota Nassr), the Economics Department (Lilas Demmou), the Directorate for Education and Skills (Stéphan Vincent-Lacrin), and the Public Governance Directorate (Miguel Amaral, Cecilia Emilsson, Marianna Karttunen, Jacob Arturo Rivera Perez and Barbara Ubaldi). Mark Foss, Sebastian Ordelheide and Angela Gosmann provided editorial support.

This phase of the OECD Going Digital project was led by the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy, joined by four co-leading OECD Committees: the Competition Committee, the Health Committee, the Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy and the Trade Committee. In addition, the project featured the involvement of eleven other OECD bodies: the Committee on Consumer Policy, the Development Assistance Committee, the Economic Policy Committee, the Centre for Education Research and Innovation Governing Board, the Committee on Financial Markets, the Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Public Governance Committee, the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy, the Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, the Regional Development Policy Committee and the Regulatory Policy Committee. Input from the stakeholder groups of the Committee on Digital Economy Policy – Business at OECD, the Trade Union Advisory Committee, the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council and the Internet Technical Advisory Committee – is gratefully acknowledged.

The OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy approved and declassified the Going Digital Guide to Data Governance Policy Making on 27 September 2022. The OECD Secretariat prepared the report for publication.