Statement to Panel D: “Trade, science, technology, innovation and capacity building”

FfD Forum 2019

Statement to Panel D: “Trade, science, technology, innovation and capacity building” on behalf of Civil Society FfD Group (including the Women’s Working Group on FfD)

Delivered by Elenita Daño, Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group)

18 April 2019

Digital Economy will change Trade in various ways and different scales

need to define what is the digital economy and what technologies make up the digital platform to be more concrete and provide realism to the current euphoria about the claims of these technologies
Digital technologies will change Trade in terms of:
Products: what we trade (i.e., products of synthetic biology, gene editing)
Processes: how products are made (i.e., 3D printing, digital sequencing)
IPR implications, i.e., how current IPR rules are applied on digital technologies
How we trade (i.e., block chain, AI/ML)

Harnessing Opportunities presented by Digital Economy

Opportunities do not and will not happen automatically and will definitely not happen by giving out smart phones to the poor, but can only be harnessed based on conscious strategic plans and policies aimed at addressing inequality and the structural roots of poverty – to achieve the Leave No One Behind vision
Not just about policy space, but more about political will
Centrality of people, not of machines/robots
Inclusiveness: questioning and challenging power relations to reach this goal; common good over corporate profits/greed
Take stock of realities: Infrastructures, education, capacities, cultures
Skills and capacities: recognizing the knowledge and potentials communities that enabled them to be resilient; not just about re-skilling but long-term measures
Ensuring Social Protection measures are in place in the midst of displacement, marginalization, disruptions
Protection of Rights of people
Bottom-up approach; top-down runs counter to inclusiveness

Addressing the Challenges of the Digital Economy

We need to name and tackle these challenges now, not to fix-them-as-we-go
Take stock of the ecological footprints of digital technologies; energy requirements, impact of climate change
Social and economic impacts
Control and ownership of technologies and Big Data: i.e., taxation of Big Tech and corporations

Key role of the UN in building the capacities of countries and institutions to do horizon scanning and have foresight on potential impacts of digital technologies, prepare and make decisions based on broad array of options that are not limited to technological solutions