The rise of the tech envoy: European politics about knowledge in the Bay Area and beyond

This paper tracks the rise of the ‘tech envoy,’ a new diplomatic profile that has spread to all EU member states and most recently also to the EU itself. There is an apparent confusion in the field, with some states appointing Tech or Digital Ambassadors based in their capitals, other states conferring special tech responsibilities to their General Consuls in San Francisco, yet other actors opting for a hybrid figure based in Washington. In fact, there are two different diplomatic practices at stake. The first one aims to ‘repatriate the knowledge’ lost to the Bay area. It centres on the instrumental use of the diaspora by countries such as Ireland and Italy, to harvest information and contacts. The second one is instead aims to ‘export the knowledge’ to the Bay Area, by promoting national companies and national regulations, as well as connecting entrepreneurs and administrators. The appointment of a high-level figure as EU Envoy for Digital to the US, however, has consolidated yet a third practice, centred on ‘knowledge for regulation,’ with consultation in the Bay Area predominantly centring on how the EU aims to regulate digital technologies in the EU. This has however changed the conversation in the Bay Area, by not only institutionalising regulation over collaboration, but also depriving member states of a say and a role in the debate.