Economic, Social and Political Issues (ICT)

It was on the cards. For weeks, Jack Ma, the digital tycoon of China, founder of Ant and of e-commerce giant Alibaba (the Chinese Amazon), disappeared off the radar after he was summoned by the Chinese Government and most likely lectured on the fact that his company was out of step with official Chinese policy. …

Massive changes to the Chinese tech industry. Read More »

Following the American insurrection and the role the media played – social media, in particular – “doomsday scenario” started to appear again in relation to technological developments. Only a few years ago, a group of hi-tech companies including Tesla warned against the negative aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). Other technologies that could have a serious …

Technology: doomsday or godsend – the choice is ours. Read More »

With Trump gone, will the USA (and for that matter any other western nation facing political polarisation) be able to make structural changes to address the underlaying problems. Will Covid-19 be a catalyst in this process or perhaps the American insurrection? If we look at the western democracies than America is facing much deeper problems …

What is next for America – and the rest of the democratic world. Read More »

Over the last 20 years most of the western world moved into what has become known as a neoliberal political system. Basically, get the government as much as possible out of the market and let the economy be run by the market. This has resulted in large scale privatisations, ongoing budget cuts basically across all …

The enormous economic costs of the pandemic – How did we end up in this mess? Read More »

For those people who have been advocating social and economic changes for the last few decades, to a certain extent it looks like all our Christmases are arriving at once. Issues we have been lobbying for, for decades are now suddenly being addressed within days and weeks. Obviously, I don’t want to ignore the severity …

Sustaining social and economic transformation beyond the crisis. Read More »

I started writing this on the 29th of March 2020. Roughly two months after the outbreak started in all seriousness in Wuhan, China. Obviously from the start it was hot news. The initial information was confusing, especially as the infamous Chinese bureaucracy – on automatic pilot – immediately started to suppress any information on the …

Corona crisis – Update from Australia – April 1 Read More »

21 January Communications minister Paul Fletcher has convened an industry roundtable on telecommunications resilience and repair following the national bushfires. It is good to see that most of the issues that we discussed here have been addressed. This includes: Access to power to achieve better infrastructure resilience. This includes site access and access to emergency …

Follow up news – National Telecommunications Emergency Plan Read More »

Some of you might recall that I lived in Bucketty in the Australian bush for more than 30 years. In August we sold our place and moved to Brisbane where two of our kids live. In October the bush fires started around Bucketty. Therefore, the new owners didn’t move in till last week. When we …

Analyses of the Australian bushfires Read More »

recently reported on the new developments in China regarding its social code citizens’ surveillance system. This has since  been extended to businesses as well.  By now, thousands of Australian citizens will also have been included in this system, especially people travelling to China for business or tourism. Chinese students in Australia and Chinese visitors to …

Be aware of the surveillance state Australia Read More »

The populist maelstrom is becoming a threat to the social and economic future of the West.  Policies which normally would generate national bipartisanship are suddenly becoming politicised, often simply for political gain. The leadership that the West has previously shown in international affairs is slipping away. Now more than ever the West is faced with …

The ‘Us’ and the ‘Them’ will need to come together – soon Read More »

There is no way around it – across the western world there is a strong push away from progressive policies towards more conservative ones. Changes in globalisation, migration, productivity and efficiency have happened very quickly. And rapid developments in technology over the last 30 years have played a critical role in this. After the booming …

With failing neoliberalism in the West, let us look to the East. Read More »

By my colleague David Bray, PhD Through shared narratives, the enforcement of laws, and through use of technologies, humans have shaped social norms and reshaped how power (i.e., the capability to compel or oblige someone to take a certain a certain course of actions) has been distributed in our communities. Now with the beginning of …

Where Do We Want to Go As Open Societies? Laws, Tech, and Narratives for the Future Read More »

Is digital democracy an option – and what is involved in it? Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the internet Berners-Lee, the father of the internet, reiterated his suggestion for a radical change, which would improve the functionality of the internet for the benefit of society. He suggests a sort of refoundation of the web, creating …

Is digital democracy an option – and what is involved in it? Read More »

Because there will be an election in just over a month the Budget is aimed at injecting sugar hits into the electorate. And no doubt Labor will match these sugar hits. It is regrettable that the extra money will not be used to come up with a vision for the future of our country, with …

Budget:  Short-term sugar hits without national long-term vision Read More »

 As has become very clear in recent years a Cold War is going on between the three superpowers – USA, China and Russia. The struggle for world power is immense and while the USA still has by far the largest military power China is catching up. What is perhaps even more important than these military …

The digital wars between BATX and GAFAM Read More »

Global Business Coalition issues statement ahead of the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires The multilateral trading order has proven to be essential for our businesses. For decades it has been the foundation of our global economic success. However, the Word Trade Organization (WTO) is increasingly under stress. For years, WTO members have not shown the …

Reforming the Global Trading System of the WTO Read More »

I recently went to an industry event organised by InnovationAus.com which was unique in several respects. First of all, there was hardly any techno talk. The presentations and discussion took place on a far more strategic level in relation to the effects of technology – in particular AI and big data – on our society …

An overhaul of political and economic structures is needed for AI and big data Read More »

During a recent three-month trip we visited various countries. This time I would like to share, not ICT-related ideas, but my socio-economic and political observations, starting with the very interesting but little-known country of Armenia. We travelled to Armenia – in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia – for several reasons. Firstly, due to our …

Armenia – socio-economic and political observations Read More »

For starters I have to admit that the key reason for my second visit to this country was to attend the World Cup, together with my son. Having said that, we also spent plenty of time away from the football fun. I caught up with one of my colleagues in the Gordon Cook network, Arcady …

Russia – social, economic and political observations Read More »

A relatively small island of only 375,000 people – of which one-third live in the capital Reykjavik – in one of the harshest climates on earth, Iceland also has the highest (or second-highest, depending who measures it) per capita income in the world. Until the 20th century it was one of the poorest countries in …

Iceland – the Pots and Pans Revolution and resultant political and social changes Read More »

The last 50-70 years have seen an enormous amount of innovation. In particular there has been an acceleration in the ICT space over the last 20 years, and this is affecting every single aspect of our society and our economy. It is providing us with tools to address the challenges that we are facing – …

It is time to seriously start to deploy our ICT innovations Read More »

Yuval Noah Harari has written two incredible books: Sapiens and Homo Deus. His 3rd book comes out summer 2018 titled 21 lessons for the 21st century. His session at the WEF was sandwiched between Angela Merkel’s and Emmanuel Macron’s, perhaps the only historian to be given such spotlight according to Gillian Tet (editor of Financial …

Organisms are Algorithms. Read More »

Recently I participated in a study conducted by FTI Consulting on ‘The Business of Regulation’ Their audit provides deeper insight into: the drivers of politically-motivated regulation the importance of conduct and compliance in managing that risk, and how a new approach to communication and engagement can help companies shape their regulatory environment. The Business of …

The Business of Regulations Read More »

A few months ago I reported on the many incubation hubs and innovation labs that have sprung up around the country, and indeed around the world. Many of these centres are developed within smart cities; some are using local libraries; many ICT companies have their own centres; and the universities have also become key players …

Adding creativity to collaborative innovation and other smart developments Read More »

If we look at the turbulence that we are facing today in many of our western societies it becomes clear that a key underlying reason for the current chaotic situation is the lack of trust that has crept into our societies over the last decade or so. See also my blog from earlier this year:  …

Today’s key problem is the lack of trust Read More »

In 2011 I presented the report, Broadband: a Platform for Progress, to the Broadband Commission for Digital Development at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Secretary-General of the ITU, Dr Hamadoun Touré, thanked the team of experts that, as lead author of the report, I brought together. And the Director-General of UNESCO, Dr Irina Bokova, endorsed the report …

Broadband: a Platform for Progress – speech at UNESCO HQ Read More »