The digitalisation of science, technology and innovation : key developments and policies

Includes bibliographical references

Intro -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Acronyms, abbreviations and units of measure -- Executive Summary -- Digitalisation and science -- Realising the untapped potential of digital technology in policy -- Digitalisation and innovation in firms -- Developing digital skills -- Committing to public sector research -- Building expertise in government -- 1 An overview of key developments and policies -- Introduction -- Why does digitalisation matter? -- The broader context in which science, technology and innovation are digitalising -- Measuring the digitalisation of science and innovation

Digitalisation, science and science policy -- Accessing scientific information -- Enhancing access to research data -- Broadening engagement with science -- Artificial intelligence for science -- Recent drivers of AI in science -- AI can also combine with robot systems to perform scientific research -- Digitalisation and innovation in firms -- Does innovation policy need to be adapted for the digital age? -- Ensuring access to data for innovation -- Providing the right support and incentives for innovation and entrepreneurship -- Ensuring that innovation ecosystems support competition

Supporting collaboration for innovation -- Digitalisation and the next production revolution -- AI in production -- New materials and nanotechnology -- Developing digital skills -- Education and training systems must draw on information from all social partners -- New courses and curricula may be needed -- Lifelong learning must be an integral part of work -- Facilitating the diffusion of digital technologies and tools -- New digital technologies may make diffusion more difficult -- Institutions for diffusion can be effective, if well designed

Technology diffusion institutions need realistic goals and time horizons -- Committing to public sector research -- Multidisciplinary research -- Public-private research partnerships -- Developing technology- and sector-specific capabilities in government -- Ensuring access to complementary infrastructures -- Improving digital security -- Examining intellectual property systems in light of digitalisation -- Optimising digital systems to strengthen science and innovation policies -- Ensuring interoperability in DSIP systems -- Using DSIP systems in research assessment

The roles of the business sector in DSIP -- The outlook for DSIP systems -- Digitalisation in science and innovation: Possible "dark sides" -- Distributional effects and digitalisation of STI -- Complex systems and unmanageable machine ecologies -- Negative impacts on science from digitalisation -- Wider risks linked to digital technology -- The untapped potential of digital technology for STI policy -- Prediction markets for STI policy -- Prediction using human-machine combinations -- Blockchain for science, technology and innovation -- Using social media to spread innovation -- Conclusion

This report examines digitalisation's effects on science, technology and innovation and the associated consequences for policy. In varied and far-reaching ways, digital technologies are changing how scientists work, collaborate and publish. While examining these developments, this book also assesses the effects of digitalisation on longstanding policy themes, from access to publicly funded research data, to the diffusion of technology and its absorption by firms. New and emerging topics are also explored. These include the roles of artificial intelligence and blockchain in science and production, using digital technology to draw on the collective intelligence of the scientific community, advances in the digitalisation of biotechnology, and possible "dark sides" of digitalisation