Recently launched: World Trade Report 2020 Government policies to promote innovation in the digital age

Launched in an online event on 23 November, the 2020 edition of the World Trade Organization’s flagship publication, the World Trade Report, explores the increasing use of policies to foster digital innovation.

Since the 2008–09 financial crisis,  a large number of countries have instituted “new industrial policies”, as well as other industrial and digital development strategies, to advance their economies towards digitally enabled production processes and services, generally supporting the transition to the digital economy through technological upgrading and innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic, furthermore, has accelerated the uptake of e-commerce and digital innovation, and with it, the introduction of government support measures for capacity building and upgrading in information and communications technology.

The World Trade Report 2020 examines these trends, including the rationale for innovation policies, and how trade and the World Trade Organization fit into them. It also highlights the significant role that international cooperation can play in making countries’ pursuit of such goals more effective, while minimizing the negative spill-overs from national policies.

The report can be downloaded here.