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Nov 28, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay
To fully unleash the value of data for individuals, communities and society, we urgently need updated data governance frameworks. The challenge is how to make that happen. Eyes have a tendency to roll when data governance is mentioned. The subject can seem impenetrable. The detail of how data is collected, categorized, stored, used, shared and sold all happens behind the scenes. And although methodologies exist to value data, no ideal or agreed-upon system has yet emerged.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay |Silvana Fumega |Susan Ariel Aaronson |Lorrayne Porciuncula
In 2018, the essay series Data Governance in the Digital Age anticipated some of the data governance issues that have emerged, such as surveillance capitalism and the economics of data, but did not cover data valuation in depth. Data is increasingly central to economic activity and how we make sense of the world, but it is still not valued in either national or corporate balance sheets.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay |Silvana Fumega |Susan Ariel Aaronson |Lorrayne Porciuncula
In 2018, the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) released an essay series titled Data Governance in the Digital Age.1 It was a far-reaching compendium covering topics such as the rationale of a data strategy, how to balance privacy and commercial values, and international policy considerations. And it anticipated many of the issues that have emerged, such as surveillance capitalism. One area that was not covered in depth, however, was data valuation.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Teresa Scassa |Robert Fay |Silvana Fumega |Susan Ariel Aaronson
Data is in high demand for research and innovation, and data about humans and their activities is particularly sought after. Such data undoubtedly has commercial value — but it also has a different kind of value for those to whom it pertains. That value has typically been articulated in non-monetary terms, focusing on the importance of personal data to an individual’s autonomy and dignity.
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Aug 19, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay
The Nobel-Prize winning economist Robert Solow noted in the late 1980s that “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” True then, true now. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are the new computer age. Everyone is talking about them, new models are being developed and released at lightning speed, and millions if not billions of users are experimenting with them. Yet productivity in Canada and elsewhere continues to languish.
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May 21, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay
That Canada has a productivity problem is not news. Economists and commentators have typically responded with a call for greater investment, as if that could solve the problem. But this is almost like saying the cure to a disease is to cure the disease. Certainly, we need greater investment in human, intellectual and physical capital. In an accounting sense that would boost growth. But the deeper question is this: Why don’t Canadian firms invest more than they do?
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Mar 25, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Alex He |Robert Fay
As a superpower that is deeply integrated in global supply chains, China is becoming an economic giant, but its use of technology to capture data using methods that may pose cyber- and national security risks is raising concerns. While some view China’s motivations as an attempt to advance its status from an upper-middle-income economy to a developed economy, others see more nefarious intentions behind its authoritarian, top-down governance model.
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Feb 12, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay |Keldon Bester
Data affects every aspect of people’s lives, from the jobs they do to the products and services they use. Society cannot function without it. Yet valuing data is an ongoing topic of debate and discussion. The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth and the Centre for International Governance Innovation hosted a conference on the valuation of data on November 2–3, 2023.
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Dec 20, 2023 | 
cigionline.org | Dianna H. English |Robert Fay |Paul Samson |Aaron Shull
We asked: “What were the greatest global successes of 2023 and where does opportunity lie in 2024?”Dianna English, Director of Program ManagementLooking back at 2023, we see human rights violations and abuses continue to ricochet on- and offline, as we saw in last June’s violent attack at the University of Waterloo. Freedom House reported that global internet freedom declined for the thirteenth consecutive year.
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Nov 1, 2023 | 
cigionline.org | Robert Fay
Data has been referred to as the new oil, the oxygen of artificial intelligence (AI) and even as the new plutonium. No matter the analogy, it’s clear that data is broadly deemed to have value. That’s as it should be. Data is at the heart of our intangibles-based economy. It’s central to innovation and new technologies such as generative AI. And it’s the foundation of all social media platforms. Data is, quite literally, transforming existing businesses and creating new ones, as we speak.
