IT for Change is pleased to launch its two-year regional project on 'Unskewing the Data Value Chain: A Policy Research Project for Equitable Platform Economies’. Supported by the Omidyar Network, this project will continue on the heels of our first phase of research on policies for the platform economy, a 14-country initiative that concluded in November 2019.
In this second phase, IT for Change will lead and coordinate empirical research on platform value chains and the political economy of data, looking closely at the domains of e-commerce and social media.
Through network building and policy engagement over a span of two years, the project will connect the dots between policy evolution and the platform economy, foregrounding inclusion and equity.
Project Outputs
Call for Proposals on Unskewing the Data Value Chain – A Policy Research Project for Equitable Platform Economies
IT for Change is looking to collaborate with researchers and scholars working on issues of the digital economy and data governance in the Global South for our new research project, ‘Unskewing the Data Value Chain – A Policy Research Project for Equitable Platform Economies’. The project aims to generate original, evidence-based research, and build a robust body of work to inform policymakers and practitioners and recommend policy directions for inclusive and equitable data value chains in the platform economy.
Towards this, we have issued a Call for Proposals for research studies outside India*, with an aim to build an interdisciplinary network of scholars and researchers in a cutting-edge policy domain. We will award up to 7 grants of USD 13,500 each for a period of 12 months.
Here is the concept note for the project, discussing the issues at stake in greater detail. For details about the who can apply, the application process, etc., read the detailed call for proposals here.
*The India component of the research will be undertaken by IT for Change
Background Paper on Unskewing the Data Value Chain – A Policy Research Project for Equitable Platform Economies
IT for Change is embarking on a year long research study to assess current policy gaps and explore new policy directions on data value chains that can promote equitable and inclusive economic development.
Development outcomes in the digital era are closely tied to the ability of countries to harness the data value chain and ensure fair and just digital economies (Gurumurthy et. al., 2019). However, as things stand, the digital economy is anything but equitable.
This proposed research seeks to investigate policy frameworks and evolve scholarly reflections on future directions for the governance of data value chains, with a focus on:
- regulatory measures to restrain the data power of Big Tech,
- digital and data infrastructure policies to promote an inclusive digital economy,
- implications of international data and AI regimes for national development priorities and pathways.
Read the complete background paper here.
