Algorithms, Governance, and State Information

The modern state and its ability to govern are closely linked to state’s ability to collect information; census, registry data, statistics, and cartographic information are among the data resources that have been part of the state’s knowledge monopoly. This paper argues that there is an ongoing shift in the practices accumulating and managing data that has come to challenge state’s role as the main holder of such information resources, also relevant to innovation policy. Increasingly, global corporations are collecting vast information resources on the users of their proprietary digital service platforms, but also while collaborating with states in using machine-based learning and big data analysis. This is creating new domains of regulation for these data resources as the logic of their use is also undergoing major changes. There is a visible power shift, as global corporations are becoming primary holders of certain information resources that are accumulated with the help of proprietary algorithms that are used for big data analysis. Also differences in regulatory schemes are becoming more pronounced, most notably between the European Union and the United States. This paper explores the changing roles and relationship of states and international corporations in knowledge governance and innovation, including its implications for data regulation and access to knowledge.