On 22 October 2023, the ODI held a roundtable discussion as part of the research project on power and diplomacy in data ecosystems. The roundtable convened academics, policymakers, regulators and civil society organisations to discuss the ways in which state and non-state actors seek to exert their influence over these ecosystems and the impact that this has on data sharing and the activities that this enables.
Read the roundtable summary in full
It is worth noting that this event took place the week before the AI Safety Summit 2023 was convened by the UK Government across the week 30 October to 3 November 2023, which provided a focus for conversations on how access or obstruction to data might impact collaborative research and the development of AI models.
The roundtable was held under the Chatham House Rule, therefore this document serves as a summary of the discussions held and the points raised cannot be singularly attributed to a person or organisation. The event was structured around two discursive sessions on the future of open data for research and the role of data in contemporary diplomacy. These were followed by an interactive session in which participants were asked to prioritise the discussion topics and trends raised throughout earlier conversations based on what they felt to be most pressing.
This summary document has been published openly for comments to encourage broader discussion and reflection on the themes that were raised throughout the event. Furthermore, the ODI has recently established a new area of work on Global Data Infrastructure, which will explore some of these themes in greater detail. For more information on this project, please contact Dr Jared Keller on [email protected].
We would also like to express our thanks to the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is with their support that this work was made possible.
