We have already entered the ‘in-between years’, a critical period where the foundations of our future digital economy are being laid, and labour is being divided between people and artificially intelligent ‘machines’. Policies set by the new Labour government in the UK will bear consequences for generations to come. How we manage, regulate and leverage data will shape the economic future and the very fabric of society. The time for bold action is now.
Data is the hidden lifeblood of our digital economy. We need to reimagine and reset our relationship with it by creating a framework, culture and societal norms to foster innovation, equity and fairness. Most critically, we must be able to leverage data to enable and maintain sustainable economic growth. However, our current relationship with data is fundamentally broken. The new Labour government will need to take bold action if the UK is to realise the opportunities of AI and data for the economy and society.
Data monopolies
Over the past 30 years, we have left unchecked a small enclave of organisations to amass unprecedented power, economic capture and market control through data hoarding. This has created new forms of monopolies that threaten the foundations of fair competition and innovation.
Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon (referred to as GAMMA by the UK’s Digital Markets Unit) have a staggering combined market capitalisation of circa $8.5tn (more than twice the gross domestic product of Germany). They have turned our digital exhausts – every click, swipe and interaction – into a shareholder goldmine, often at the expense of individual privacy and societal well-being. Our market economies have never been so distorted nor dependent on so few organisations.
Simplistic solutions like treating and recognising data as an asset or focusing solely on data minimisation (collecting and retaining only the personal information necessary for a specific purpose) are not the answer. Many people argue that recognising data as a tangible asset could incentivise better management practices, but it could also exacerbate predatory data collection. Data minimisation might enhance privacy and reduce environmental impact but would hinder innovation in crucial fields like healthcare, where extensive, diverse and comprehensive datasets are vital for breakthroughs.
Data as public infrastructure
The Open Data Institute wants to see data treated and recognised as essential infrastructure, reimagining it as a force for socioeconomic progress – a public good. Think about how we (mostly) take for granted trust in our financial payment networks, transportation networks and energy grids. These infrastructures depend on policies, institutions, professions and regulatory ecosystems to distribute their value equitably. Data should be no different.
Learning from data access attempts embedded in the European Union’s Digital Services Act, the Labour government could accelerate remedies and reforms in digital markets. It could stipulate that dominant digital platforms share anonymised datasets for public benefit, research and economic experimentation. This would align with the Labour manifesto commitment of a National Data Library and support public purpose research, citizen data literacy and opportunities for industry innovation.
The UK needs to learn fast from what has not worked in the EU and mandate these platforms to fund data access and data stewardship under appropriately controlled conditions. This approach could level the playing field over time, enabling researchers, policy-makers and new market entrants access to data infrastructure to unlock innovation and enable competition.
Our relationship with data
We need to identify new ways for individuals to recognise and share the value their information generates for them and for society. This could include exploring concepts associated with a ‘data dividend’, where individuals, communities and collectives receive appropriate compensation for the use of their personal data by companies.
Creating a data ‘rights agency’ could enforce new regulations, mediate disputes and reform consumer interests in the data economy. The power of existing regulators needs to be extended by building on legislation like the UK’s consumer and markets bill to recognise and address power asymmetries in the market.
International data strategy
Investing in data as critical infrastructure means looking afresh at the physical infrastructure like data centres and networks. But it also necessitates re-examining the legal structures, governance frameworks, regulatory rules, principles and ‘softer’ infrastructure of standards, protocols and, perhaps most crucially, skills.
Just as the transformational 1944 GI Bill in the US introduced a range of measures to mobilise a generation of war veterans in the post-war skilled labour market, so the UK now needs similarly ambitious policies to prepare policy-makers, regulators and, critically, small to medium-sized enterprises to take advantage of this new industrial revolution. If they can access high-quality, trustworthy and reliable data infrastructure and are equipped to work with it, economic growth will be inevitable.
The Labour government should convene international policy-makers to advance a multilateral data strategy. It should focus on how, why and what categories of data (personal, commercial, public) should be collected, stored, shared and used and how advancing data access from concentrations of power should be tackled – at a national level as well as internationally. The UK can lead with a comprehensive ‘data and AI skills bill’ that is fit for the 21st century.
By reimagining data as critical infrastructure and enabling better access to it, we can create a more accessible, equitable and productive digital economy and put a better foot forward against our most existential threats – rather than perpetuate the digital feudalism of today. The future of our digital world is not predetermined and should be shaped by the policies we enact, the institutions we build and the standards and values we prioritise and hold ourselves accountable for. Let’s call upon policy-makers to be bold and brave and make sure it’s a future we’re proud to pass on to the next generation.
Stuart Coleman is Director, Consultancy and Learning, Open Data Institute. Elena Simperl is Professor of Computer Science, Kings College London and Director of Research, ODI.
This article featured in the Sustainable Policy Institute Journal. Q3 2024 edition.
