There is much debate about whether the patents on Covid-19 vaccines should be waived to allow low-income countries to produce doses for themselves. In current circumstances, such a course of action is likely to have little effect for good or ill. There is a global debate right now about whether vaccine patents should be waived […]
Category: Science, technology & innovation
Many are claiming that the new era of the internet – web3 – will be the end of dominant Big Tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Apple. But this murky world of cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens brings new risks – and policy-makers are right to be wary. Associated with libertarian politics, arcane terminology […]
Through our smartphones, we have access to many free services, such as apps, social media and internet search. As we don’t directly spend money on these products, they’re not included in measures of inflation – but we often pay in other ways, whether in terms of our time or access to our data. Many of […]
Fears that the impact of the pandemic on technology adoption will exacerbate the UK’s problem of persistently weak productivity growth are not necessarily justified. Recent evidence gives cause for cautious optimism, as many firms try to ‘innovate their way out of the crisis’. In 1665, just like today, the Great Plague created the need for […]
Some parts of Northern Ireland’s workforce are well qualified by the standards of much of the UK, but their skills are not being translated into new processes and products brought to market by businesses. A ten-year strategy seeks to foster greater innovation and a more prosperous economy. An innovation ecosystem comprises individuals, institutions and resources […]
Covid-19 has accelerated digitisation in businesses and changes in working practices. Effective training and skills policies will be needed to support continued innovation in firms, while also building workers’ resilience in times of economic transition. The pandemic has had a major impact on businesses and their employees. Social distancing requirements, shifting patterns of demand and continued uncertainty have brought changes in working […]
” With the growing market dominance of digital platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, calls for an effective policy response have become louder. New competition regulations are on the horizon, but international cooperation is needed for them to succeed. As our use of information and communications technologies has increased, a number of large digital […]
Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine was reported as being 95% effective. This number is not your chance of staying Covid-free after vaccination: rather, it estimates how much your chance rises relative to not being vaccinated. With the vaccine, your chance of staying Covid-free is in fact 99.96%. On 9 November 2020, the world woke to the uplifting news […]
The response of scientific research to Covid-19 suggests the possibility of scaling up innovation to confront other deadly diseases as well as global challenges like climate change. Doing so is likely to require harnessing the power of public research institutions and broadening incentives. It is hard to overstate the importance of vaccines in addressing the […]
Most digital platforms have emerged as big winners from the pandemic. Yet they are under regulatory pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. A fundamental question is whether and how these businesses should be held accountable for what happens on their websites. In the spring of 2020, like millions of others, we wondered how we […]