• Investment in knowledge is key to driving and adapting to the digital transformation. Among other things, this can take the form of investment in education, information and communication technologies (ICT) and in intangible assets such as Software, and Research and Development (R&D).

  • Advances in scientific knowledge are key to developing new digital technologies. Over the last decade, China almost trebled its contribution to computer science journals, overtaking the United States in the production of scientific documents in this field. However, the share of documents that are in the world’s top-cited (top 10% normalised by type of document and field) is still close to 7%, less than the world average and well below the United States at 17%. The rate of computer science publications from China which are highly cited has nonetheless more than doubled since 2006, making China the second-largest producer worldwide. In some countries, such as Italy, Israel, Luxembourg and Poland, the production of scientific research in the field of computer science carries a much higher relative citation rate compared to overall scientific production within those countries. Nearly 20% of computer science publications by Switzerland-based authors feature among the world top-10% cited scientific documents. This figure reaches 25% for Luxembourg although with a much smaller level of scientific production.

  • Competing in information and communication technology (ICT) markets worldwide requires innovations and technological developments to be bundled with appealing designs, while ensuring that consumers are able to recognise the new and often complex products on offer.

  • Digitalisation and the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have revolutionised the way in which firms and markets operate, with important differences in business dynamism between digital-intensive and other sectors of the economy. Higher levels of business dynamism are associated with higher productivity. Analysis based on the OECD DynEmp3 database shows that digital-intensive sectors are, on average, characterised by higher business dynamism, as indicated by higher job reallocation rates and a larger share of young firms (see Calvino and Criscuolo, 2019 for further discussion).

  • Technology is profoundly influencing government openness. Rapid technological progress has significantly increased the amount of data generated in societies, including by government organisations. Open government data (OGD) can be used to strengthen public governance by improving the design of public services with a citizen-driven approach, enhancing public sector efficiency and responsiveness, and spurring public sector integrity and accountability. By ensuring OGD availability, accessibility and use by public, private and civic actors, governments can design more evidence-based and inclusive policies, stimulate innovation inside and outside the public sector, motivate data-driven civic engagement, better-inform citizens’ personal decisions and enhance public trust. Making data and evidence available across government departments and ministries contributes to better policy making, greater coordination and empowers businesses and civil society to also contribute.

  • Ministers from OECD countries and partners meeting at the OECD Ministerial Meeting held in Daejeon (Korea) in 2015 recognised in their joint declaration (www.oecd.org/sti/daejeon-declaration-2015.htm) that science, technology and innovation (STI) are being revolutionised by the rapid evolution of digital technologies. These technologies are changing the way in which scientists work, collaborate and publish; increasing the reliance on access to scientific data and publications; opening new avenues for public engagement and participation in science and innovation; facilitating the development of research co-operation between businesses and the public sector; and contributing to the transformation of innovation. The OECD was asked to monitor this transformation and invited to convene the international community working on STI data and indicators to develop new thinking and solutions for empirical evidence to guide policy. The 2016 OECD Blue Sky Forum (http://oe.cd/blue-sky) identified the digitalisation of STI both as a priority object of measurement and as a fundamental enabler of future statistical and analytical work (OECD, 2018).

  • Software for which source code is public and can be freely copied, shared and modified is called “open source software” (OSS).See the Open Source Initiative for a more comprehensive definition of open source software, https://opensource.org/osd-annotated. It is often co-authored using online version control repositories such as GitHub, and may also be bundled into a “package” and uploaded to a “package manager” platform, to be downloaded and re-used by others. There is an incentive to make code as abstract and re-useable as possible, be it within a single program, an organisation or even worldwide as it is inefficient to rewrite code repeatedly (Hunt and Thomas, 1999).

  • The Internet has become an indispensable infrastructure for economies and societies. An ever growing share of economic transactions, communication and information supply takes place online. Many of these online actions leave digital “footprints” that can be observed using tools that scan, gather, interpret, filter and organise information from across the Internet, providing a foundation for the use of the Internet as a statistical data source (IaSD). Online data may be of use in combination with, or as a substitute for, data collected by traditional instruments such as statistical surveys or off-line administrative sources. For example, online retailers’ websites can be a useful source of information about prices while social media may provide information related to employment, population or societal wellbeing.