Digital infrastructure-led development has occupied centre stage in the global policy circles. The discourse in India focuses on leapfrogging the traditional stages of development with the use of Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs). The vision is to build efficient, rapid and scalable DPIs for public service delivery while paving the way for innovation.
Against this backdrop, IT for Change and the University of Western Australia have undertaken a two-year research study titled ‘Effective Ethical Frameworks for the State as an Enabler of Innovation’. The research objective is to consider the critical nature of DPIs and examine the ethical frameworks underpinning their development and deployment. This study reflects the emerging ethical tensions in India’s dynamic digital policy landscape, which reflects a slow but certain shift in the envisioned role of the welfare state.
Through this research, we aim to critically examine the role of the state as an enabler of ethical innovation. Our research includes gap analyses of the present ethical frameworks and emerging technology developments across three priority economic sectors (healthcare, agriculture, and urban development) and two countries (India and Australia), and case studies of innovative experiments from across the Indo-Pacific.
Research Outputs
1. Our advocacy with the T20 engagement group of Brazil G20, 2024, discussed the implications of platformized welfare service delivery which highlighted the increasing commodification of healthcare services. The research output, co-authored by IT for Change includes a policy brief, 'Reorienting Public Services: Platformization in Health.' Read the full paper here.
2. Building on our ongoing research project, we have also released a policy brief titled 'Recovering the ‘Public’ in India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Strategy'. This brief evaluates the extent to which India’s DPI strategy has delivered on public value creation. You can read the full brief here.
Events
We also organized a roundtable on ‘Inclusive Digital Transformation – The DPI Approach and Beyond’ on 10 January 2025 in Bengaluru, which looked to centre the ‘public’ in India’s DPI strategy. We brought together tech policy researchers, development practitioners, digital rights advocates, progressive technologists, and social entrepreneurs to debate the appropriate policy and programmatic interventions for techno-social innovation that is meaningful, inclusive, and truly transformative through an open-ended and interactive dialogue. Read more about the event here.