Report: Tending the Tech-Ecosystem and Cultivating Coordination
What will it look like if Australia gets tech regulation right?
This research aims to bring much needed focus to the discussion on tech regulation.
Phase One, Tending the Tech Ecosystem, found that one key barrier to effective tech regulation was a lack of coordination between and among politicians, policymakers, regulators, industry, and the rest of the tech-ecosystem.
This is compounded by other barriers to effective tech regulation including trust deficits, knowledge asymmetries, and nascent international cooperation.
Responding to these challenges, Phase Two of our research, Cultivating Coordination, recommends a best practice model for tech policy coordination in Australia.
The model draws on international best practice, and extensive consultation with stakeholders in Government, Industry, and Civil Society. The model is ready for immediate implementation and is largely cost neutral.
Tending the Tech-Ecosystem
Phase One of this research, Tending the Tech-Ecosystem, considered who should be the regulator(s) of the tech-ecosystem
To inform our research, the Tech Policy Design Centre considered international best practice and interviewed 32 heads and senior representatives of Australian regulators, the Australian Government, Industry, Academia, and Civil Society.
Our research found no support for new centralised super tech regulator. Rather, expert interviewees advocated for upskilling and improving coordination among existing regulators. Moreover, many underscored the need for better coordination among and between regulators and policymakers. Addressing the knowledge asymmetry between industry and regulators was also a common theme.
To address these challenges Tending the Tech-Ecosystem proposed Tech Policy and Regulation Coordination Model. Phase Two of the project tested the proposed model with stakeholders in Australia and abroad. The result is the best practice Tech Policy Coordination Model detailed in Cultivating Coordination.
Download the Report (PDF)
Narration
An oration by Sarah O’Connor of the Tending the Tech-Ecosystem and Cultivating Coordination framing narratives (which are also depicted on the report covers).
“Just as a thriving garden requires tending by an effective gardener, a gardener with skills, knowledge and resources, the tech ecosystem will flourish when it is tended by well resourced and skillful regulators… the role of the regulator is not to control the tech sector, but to create the space and conditions for the tech ecosystem as a whole to thrive.”
Launch of Tending the Tech Ecosystem
Tending the Tech Ecosystem was launched on 5 May 2022 by ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt. The launch was followed by a panel, moderated by TPDC Director, Johanna Weaver.
Distinguished Panellists
- Professor Rod Sims – ANU Crawford School (formerly, Chair of ACCC)
- Kate Pounder – CEO, Tech Council of Australia
- Belinda Dennett – Director Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
- Professor Nicholas Davis – Managing Director, Swift Partners
- The Report was prepared by TPDC, with thanks to the generous sponsorship of Microsoft.
In the Media
The Tending the Tech-Ecosystem and Cultivating Coordination reports are featured in various media outlets
- ANU/TPDC Media Release
- New model needed to fix ‘lacklustre tech regulation’ in Australian Financial Review
- Regulation: ANU tending to the tech ecosystem in Innovation Aus
- Big Tech behaviour is really ‘not okay’: Rod Sims in Innovation Aus
- Federal regulators take aim at tech platforms’ algorithms in Australian Financial Review
- The art of executing effective technology policy in Innovation Aus
- 5-year Productivity Inquiry: Australia’s data and digital dividend in Australian Government Productivity Commission
- Catalysing a new era of an Australian tech policy in InnovationAus
- Better coordination of tech policy urgently needed in ANU Media
- New parliamentary office would improve tech policy in InnovationAus
- In myGov we trust: Labor puts its faith in digital in The Mandarin
These research reports were prepared by the Tech Policy Design Centre, with thanks to the generous support from Microsoft and ANU.