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Africa

August 19, 2019

Comments to the U.S. International Trade Commission Regarding the Digital Economy and Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa

ITIF’s submission focuses on the ITC’s interest in recent developments in the digital economy for key SSA markets, including national and regional regulatory and policy measures and market conditions that affect digital trade.

May 6, 2019

Fact of the Week: Ethiopian Youth Given $300 Start-up Grants at Random had 36 Percent Higher Wages After One Year, But No Effect After Five Years

When attempting to evaluate the effect that a policy intervention can have on development or innovation, researchers and policymakers routinely look to short-term impacts, both out of urgency and because of the difficulty in maintaining contact with participants over several years.

October 22, 2018

Fact of the Week: Adoption of Mobile Money in Kenya Lifted 194,000 Households Out of Extreme Poverty

Over the last decade, mobile money services have brought banking to populations that have lacked formal financial services by allowing users to manage money on their mobile phones. First launched in Kenya in 2007, 96 percent of Kenyan households now use mobile money and can withdraw funds in physical currency from 110,000 agents across the country.

August 29, 2017

The Handheld Cardio-Pad: Tackling Cardiovascular Disease in Africa Through Innovation

Meet Arthur Zang, a 29 year-old Cameroonian engineer who invented the handheld Cardio-Pad, the world’s first medical tablet facilitating heart examinations and remote diagnosis. The Cardio-Pad is a touch-screen tablet device for conducting cardiac tests such as electrocardiograms in remote locations, and then sending the results to cardiologists in city centers often hundreds of miles away.

August 7, 2017

Zipline Enables Real-time Delivery of Essential Medical Supplies in Rwanda

Rwanda’s government, which has declared a vision of making the country a technology and innovation hub for Africa, has partnered with the startup Zipline to facilitate the real-time delivery of urgent medical supplies, such as blood or vaccines, to patients in remote locations via drones.

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Asia-Pacific

March 6, 2023

Comments to the Attorney General of Australia Regarding Australia’s Copyright Enforcement Review

The world’s leading creative countries still have a long way to go before they can say they’ve significantly reduced digital piracy, but many are finally taking steps in the right direction toward this goal. Australia has adopted many of the best policies to better target copyright infringement, but there are a few missing that policymakers should consider.

December 19, 2022

Korea Should Not Require Companies to Pay to Deliver Digital Content

Starting with a 2016 amendment to Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act, ISPs of comparable size have had to compensate each other based on the volume of traffic they exchange under a sending-party-network-pays policy. But consumers are the ones who ultimately pay in this arrangement.

December 15, 2022

Data Localization Will Cost Bangladesh

With misguided localisation policies, Bangladesh's early progress and future promise are at risk. What path will Bangladesh's policymakers take as they conduct a final review of the country's Data Protection Act? The path to a false and costly promise of digital protectionism and control, or will they choose one that's based on targeted and balanced laws that reflect global data-policy norms that keep Bangladesh integrated with the global digital economy?

December 15, 2022

Corporate Views on U.S. International Tech Competition

Crafting and implementing well-funded U.S. government policies that advance U.S. international competitiveness, especially in technology-driven industries and in relationship to China, requires a modicum of corporate political support or, at minimum, limited opposition.

November 10, 2022

Beware of Tech Principles in Sheep’s Clothing

In the last few years, a growing movement has advocated “responsible” technology development and use, particularly for artificial intelligence. The problem is that many of these efforts go beyond statements of generally agreed-upon principles and attempt to impose specific, elitist values and agendas on technology development.

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China

March 29, 2023

The TikTok Debate Should Start With Reciprocity; Everything Else Is Secondary

Defending Digital Series, No. 16: The recent congressional hearing about TikTok was a missed opportunity to insist that U.S. and Chinese companies be treated equally in both nations.

January 23, 2023

Wake Up, America: China Is Overtaking the United States in Innovation Capacity

Based on key indicators of innovation and advanced-industry performance, China has surpassed the United States in total innovation output and is getting close on a proportional basis. To regain its leadership, the United States must respond more strategically and forcefully.

January 16, 2023

When Facts About China Change, Elites Should Change Their Views Too

China’s aspiration to become the new global hegemon calls into question the “Washington Consensus” that free markets and unfettered globalization maximize U.S. and global welfare. But for true believers, that is unacceptable. So, the idea China is a threat must be destroyed intellectually.

December 15, 2022

Podcast: Will a Western “NATO for Tech” Work? (Atkinson Guest Appearance on ‘What China Wants’)

ITIF’s Rob Atkinson appears on the podcast What China Wants by Sam Olsen to talk through the realities of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposal to create a “NATO for Tech” to counter Chinese influence.

November 8, 2022

How to Win the U.S.-China Economic War

The first step is calling the economic war with China what it is. Then Washington needs to commit to preventing Beijing from achieving global leadership in most advanced industries—and ensuring a significantly greater rate of Chinese economic dependence on the United States (and close allies) than vice versa.

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Europe

March 27, 2023

Europe’s Cloud Security Regime Should Focus on Technology, Not Nationality

The EU’s new cloud cybersecurity regime should focus on good security practices, as the U.S. FedRAMP regime does. Emulating China’s protectionist focus on firm nationality is a bad security practice that weakens transatlantic influence over cybersecurity issues globally.

February 24, 2023

Europe Goes Protectionist on Global Technical Standards: The Example of “Common Specifications”

The Biden administration (and other major trading partners) should push the EU to live up to its statements, abide by its WTO commitments, and support the development and use of international standards for new and emerging technologies.

February 1, 2023

The AI Act Should Be Technology-Neutral

The AI Act’s broad definition of AI penalizes technologies that do not pose novel risks. To resolve this, policymakers should revise the definition of AI to only apply to specific AI approaches that create significant challenges.

January 12, 2023

The EU Pot Calling the US Kettle Black on the IRA

When Europe gets around to fixing its own trade and procurement imbalances and with the United States and discriminatory policies, then the Biden administration should talk. In the meantime, the Biden administration needs to stop being defensive against the EU attacks and counter with its own narrative that demonstrates the EU’s protectionist performance.

December 2, 2022

Hope for the Best, But Prepare for the Worst at the US-EU Trade and Technology Council

The European Union wants it all—access to the U.S. market without fully reciprocal access to the EU, U.S. action against China while it free rides by exporting to China, and the freedom to restrict U.S. firms in Europe under the banner of “digital sovereignty.” It’s time for the U.S. government to say, “No more.”

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Global

March 3, 2023

Comments to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Regarding Technical Standard-Setting Processes

China and other countries with poor human rights records are trying to influence international standards mainly through the International Telecommunications Union. So, the Office of the High Commissioner should focus attention there to address the most problematic proposals for technical standards with clear and troubling human rights implications.

October 12, 2022

Toward International Antitrust: Challenges and Opportunities

International mergers, international cartels, and multinationals engaging with customers across borders underscore the need for greater legal certainty when it comes to antitrust enforcement and policy.

September 12, 2022

Climate Innovation Policy From Glasgow to Pittsburgh

In September, ministers will gather in Pittsburgh to consider how their governments should respond to the energy and climate innovation imperative. Building on Glasgow, the meeting should strive to fill critical gaps in areas such as capital-intensive demonstration projects and innovation-friendly trade in carbon-intensive goods.

June 24, 2022

Postmortem on a Pyrrhic Victory for IP Foes at the WTO

The WTO’s approval of a TRIPS waiver for IP related to COVID-19 vaccines is essentially a shotgun blast completely missing the broadside of a barn.

June 22, 2022

The World After Ukraine

Putin’s attack should galvanize real foreign policy, defense policy, and industrial policy cooperation among democratic, allied nations.

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Latin America

June 27, 2022

Latin America’s Advanced Industry Decline: What Explains the Region’s Poor Performance in Growing, or Even Retaining, Its Global Competitiveness in Advanced Industries?

If Latin America wants to avoid this fate, it needs to make a key decision: does it want to look east to China or north to the United States. The United States is leading the world in efforts to get China to roll back its unfair, mercantilist trade and economic policies. But that task will be much harder if the region sides with China or avoids the fight altogether and sits on the sidelines.

June 13, 2022

How Flawed Thinking Limits America’s National Industrial Strategy

Before policymakers can act, there needs to be a consensus that there is a problem, and a role for policy in solving it. When it comes to competitiveness, too many in Washington don’t recognize this.

November 30, 2020

Digital Economy Strategy in Colombia: An Analysis and Recommendations

Colombia faces significant political, social, and economic hurdles in building its digital economy, yet its progress toward developing a robust strategy deserves recognition. It has an opportunity to be a trailblazer and regional role model.

September 16, 2020

Assessing Colombian Government Websites

Citizens and businesses rely on government websites to access important information and services. Unfortunately, many Colombian government websites fail to meet basic website standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness, and accessibility.

September 16, 2020

New Study Finds Colombian Government Efforts to Modernize Websites Are Beginning to Show Results

Colombian citizens and businesses use government websites every day to find important information and access public services, and so it is important for those websites to meet basic standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness, or accessibility. According to a new report[RC1] released jointly today by two leading think tanks, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and TicTac, Colombian government agencies have opportunities to modernize their sites by further investing in cybersecurity, mobile-friendly web design, and cloud-based hosting.

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