Digital Technology and Artificial Intelligence
The UCL IIPP is working to rethink how digitalisation and artificial intelligence can empower public value creation and public purpose.
About
Digitalization is not neutral. The outcomes of digitalization are a function of how digital technologies are governed. In turn, different frameworks addressing questions such as who designs and owns the infrastructure, how data is created and who manages it, and how value is created and destroyed through digitalization processes can create radically different outcomes. IIPP seeks to build a research agenda investigating how public and private actors can better relate to govern the direction of digital technologies and AI in society, driving potential for public value creation and radical visions of economic change.
This research agenda will focus on building out and refining a number of verticals, among them:
- Public sector digital capabilities:
- Varieties of Digital Capitalism
- Algorithmic Rents
- Governing AI for Public Purpose.
Policy implications
IIPP aims to create the frameworks and analytics tools understanding how digital technologies and artificial intelligence impact governance and value. Collaborating with key partners and funders across our networks, the IIPP digital technologies and AI program will work as a learning community around the narratives, funding, development, use, and governance of these technologies. This research will play a fundamental role as a cross-cutting research impacting IIPP’s perspective on global innovation and technology policy agendas, as well as how technology shapes IIPP’s other research areas and projects.
Projects


Governing artificial intelligence for public purpose

- Paper | Interactions Between Artificial Intelligence and Digital Public Infrastructure: Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges | Sarosh Nagar and David Eaves
- Policy Paper | Reclaiming digital sovereignty | Cecilia Rikap, Cédric Durand, Paolo Gerbaudo, Paris Marx and Edemilson Paraná
- A Decolonial Global Political Economy of Digital Transformation (chapter in Edward Elgar’s Decolonizing Economic): Examines the colonial implications of global digital transformation policies.
- The Digital Transformation for Development Politics Machine (peer-reviewed article in Policy and Internet): Explores the politics behind digital transformation for development.
- Case Study | India’s National Urban Governance Platform | Jordyn Fetter and David Eaves
- Policy Report | Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon | Ilan Strauss, Tim O'Reilly, Mariana Mazzucato and Josh Ryan-Collins
- Working Paper | Public value and platform governance: Mapping Value Creation and Extraction in the Platform Economy | Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Entsminger and Rainer Kattel
- Working Paper | Public value and platform governance | Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Entsminger and Rainer Kattel
- Working Paper | Theorising and mapping modern economic rents | Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Ryan-Collins and Giorgos Gouzoulis
- Interview | "Freedom of expression on social media is completely manipulated," warns expert” [ES] | France24 | Cecilia Rikap
- Article | "Anything goes" returns to Facebook [ES]| Pagina12 | Cecilia Rikap
- Article | Cecilia Rikap, researcher: “Microsoft and Google are like salt: they are in every dish” [ES]| El Pais | Cecilia Rikap
- Article | Building a better data economy | MIT Technology Review | Tim O'Reilly
- Op-Ed | Resisting Digital Feudalism | Project Syndicate | Mariana Mazzucato
- Op-Ed | AI’s Efficiency Wars Have Begun | FP | Sarosh Nagar and David Eaves
- Op-Ed | DeepSeek, China y la IA: un desafío geopolítico [ES] | NUEAVA SOCIEDAD | Cecilia Rikap
- Op-Ed | Pour sortir de la dépendance européenne aux Big Tech, il faut une politique numérique non alignée | Le Monde | Cecilia Rikap
- Op-Ed | Big Tech Must Stop Hiding | Project Syndicate | Mariana Mazzucato and Ilan Strauss
- Op-Ed | Let’s imagine a different kind of platform economy | Sifted | Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Entsminger and Rainer Kattel
- Op-Ed | Reimagining the Platform Economy | Project Syndicate | Mariana Mazzucato, Rainer Kattel, Tim O'Reilly and Josh Entsminger
- Op-Ed | Preventing Digital Feudalism | Project Syndicate | Mariana Mazzucato
- Op-Ed | Antitrust regulators are using the wrong tools to break up Big Tech | Quartz | Tim O'Reilly
- The fundamental problem with Silicon Valley’s favorite growth strategy | Quartz | Tim O'Reilly
Contact
Rainer Kattel
Deputy Director, IIPP
r.kattel@ucl.ac.uk
Josh Entsminger
Doctoral Candidate in Innovation and Public Policy
joshua.entsminger.19@ucl.ac.uk