Commerce
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Language: English
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- What outcomes of international R&I could be monetised?
- Further understand investment, export and domestic market access for safety tech products and services in the UK and beyond.
- How can we better understand trends in geospatial investment internationally, including into the capture of data (such as satellite, aerial imaging and surveying programmes) and the development of geospatial applications?
- Horizon scanning on the scenarios for digital and tech dominance over the near- and medium-term future.
- What is the nature of international investment in science and tech related R&D?
- What are the digital technology trends that the UK Government should be considering in the long term?
- Identify factors which inhibit UK telecoms research and development in terms of: (i) skills and talents (education, jobs), (ii) R&D (lack of IP knowledge, facilities), (iii) investment (private sector / venture capital), (iv) coordination, (v) market dynamics (barriers to entry, commercialisation, international policies and subsidies).
- What are the current telecoms supply chain/RAN market concentration risks and how are they evolving? What has been/will be the impact of the economic and geopolitical risks on achieving greater market diversity. How could future technological trends affect market concentration risks in telecoms supply chains?
- Is there a way we can extrapolate the value of data flows based on the volume of exchanges? What is the link between international data flows and trade?
- What can the current evidence and available economic data tell us regarding price modelling, taking into account global supply chains where relevant?
- How does cyber security impact the price or competitiveness of a product or service? Does greater cyber security increase the price of goods and services? How much of a difference does it make to the price of products and services? If they internalise these costs, how much is the cost to the manufacturer/supplier? Are more secure products and services outcompeting competitors due to being more secure or are cheaper alternatives (with less security) more competitive in the marketplace? Does greater security of UK products lead to them outcompeting other brands on the international stage? Are UK products considered premium products internationally due to greater security by design? Does security provide competitive advantage both within the UK market and internationally?
- How does the UK compare to other countries in respect to 4G mobile coverage? In particular, how does the UK compare to G7 and EU countries? What factors contribute to this? What can the UK learn from 4G mobile roll-out in other countries?
- What are some of the supply chain issues and risks associated with fibre deployment in the next 10 years? To what extent is the UK able to self-sufficiently, domestically produce, fibre and ducting for the needs of the market and to what extent is it reliant on imports?
- We are always interested in comparing the situation and activity in the UK to what is happening in our global partners and competitors.
- We are interested in understanding situations where we are heavily reliant on a particular country in order to source key components.
- We are interested in which companies we might collaborate with in order to give the UK a leading role within global value chains.
- Studying the relative competitiveness of the UK space sector in an international context. How do UK space sector companies compare to international rivals?
- How does international R&I activity affect the local economy?
- Can any of these impacts be monetised?
- What new data could be collected to estimate rates of return on international R&I?
- What activities – from government or other actors – contribute to monetised outcomes?
- Talent: What is the role of international AI talent in UK prosperity? What are the AI talent flows into and out of the UK?
- What are the challenges and opportunities for the UK HE sector to remain internationally competitive?
- To what extent has the UK’s competitiveness in transport infrastructure changed relative to other countries? And what lessons can we learn from short-term changes internationally that can be implemented long-term domestically? For example, how has UK’s transport WEF Competitiveness Index scores increased/decreased compared to other countries?
- What will be the impact on maritime and shipping infrastructure, skills and careers as international trade evolves? What are the opportunities for UK costal shipping?
- How does the UK transport infrastructure compare to the infrastructure of other countries?
- What are the main barriers of the UK's bilateral trade with partner countries? How do non-tariff and tariff barriers impact trade?
- What are the key routes for UK trade? What makes them key routes?
- What are the key disruption risks to UK maritime? What are the most effective mitigations at the local and global level to ensure the safe and reliable passage of goods and passengers to, from and around the UK?
- What is the market outlook for emerging aviation technologies and where should DFT prioritise its efforts to enable the UK's role in aviation?
- How can aviation best facilitate trade?
- How important is transport to trade flows? How might international trade evolve and how might this affect our transport network requirements?
- How are consumer and business attitudes and confidence towards international travel changing in the post-pandemic world and how will their behaviour evolve?
- What are the connectivity performance and protection requirements in ports and on sea? Can there be specific international connectivity corridors?
- How has COVID and EU exit affected the movement of goods between Ireland, the UK and the rest of the EU? Are these impacts short or long term?
- How can we effectively evaluate countries’ relative technology readiness levels (TRL), by technical area, sector and overall strategy? To what extent does the commercial, regulatory and legal environment impact on TRLs? To what extent can market access restrictions to some sectors have wider impacts on trade within other sectors?
- How can we best evaluate the impact of DIT’s campaigns and events on businesses?
- How can we best characterise the attitudes and behaviours of UK exporters, to inform our understanding of the internationalisation process for SMEs?
- How do non-UK businesses and publics perceive the UK as a trade and/or investment partner?
- How do the public’s attitudes towards globalisation vary, and what drives these differences?
- How do the public view the trade-offs that trade agreements bring, in relation to consumer choice, prices and employment by sector? How do these perceptions vary by partner country?
- How are perceptions of international trade affected by the inclusion of sustainability and welfare provisions in trade agreements?
- What factors affect public perceptions of trade and how does this differ by specific groups, sectors and regions?
- To what extent does the UK public understand trade policy and global trade patterns? What are their main sources of information?
- How can we use novel datasets to understand capital investment needs across the UK, including by sector and region?
- What methods are best to isolate the impact of one service provided by the DIT service from others we provide?
- How can we evaluate additionality of government support in investment promotion?
- Which statistical methods can help reconcile foreign investment and trade asymmetries between partner countries?
- Which countries excel at facilitating the commercialisation and export of new technologies and why?
- How does investment and export promotion engage with varied supply chains, given small and medium enterprise internationalisation?
- To what extent can the private sector deliver investment promotion together with DIT?
- To what extent can investment promotion optimise UK export markets? What are the limits to intervention under specific conditions of market failure?
- How can barriers to foreign investment (including business procedures) be most effectively identified and addressed?
- How can advances in communication technologies be used to inform our understanding of trade in digital services?
- How can restrictions on trade in services be effectively measured across sectors, given data limitations?
- How can we effectively measure levels of ‘servitisation’ and ‘servicification’? [footnote 1]
- What is the potential of ledger technology for the measurement of financial services trade?
- What is international best practice to define and measure trade in services? This may include digital trade, e-commerce and cross-border data flows.
- How can the categorisation and measurement of trade in services by the modes of supply be developed and optimised?
- How much of an obstacle is cyber-security in the development of the UK’s digital trade capacity?
- Which technologies are most likely to disrupt the pattern of global trade and investment in the coming decades and what impact will they have on productivity growth?
- How do businesses adapt their delivery of services between the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) 4 Modes of Supply? To what extent are the four GATS 4 Modes of Supply compliments or substitutes?
- What impact do restrictions on data flows and data localisation requirements have on trade?
- What are implications of advances in communications technologies for trade in services?
- How important is geography, culture and language for trade in services, and how does this compare to that of trade in goods?
- How are changes in technology impacting the tradability of different services, the cost of trade in services and the ways in which services are traded?
- To what extent do barriers to goods trade affect services trade and vice versa?
- How can we best evaluate the barriers to trade in services and their impact on trade flows?
- How can open source data, big data and data science techniques inform us about the emerging trends in trade across different sectors?
- How can shipping and freight data be used to complement our understanding of the Rotterdam effect and trade flows international hubs?
- How can we assess how much value is created in each stage of a global supply chain and how do “smile curves” vary across products and sectors? For example, how can we estimate the value of intellectual property within global supply chains?
- How can the Trade in Value Added (TiVA) dataset inform our understanding about regional or global supply chains, including re-manufactured goods?
- What is best practice in developing the international classifications underpinning trade measurement – including product codes for goods, classifications for services and their relationship to sectors?
- Which methods best evaluate of a country’s regions and sectors of dynamic comparative advantage?
- Which criteria are most effective in establishing long-term sectoral growth potential?
- What factors make countries and regions attractive as destinations for investment in high potential, early stage, technology-based entrepreneurs?
- How are emerging digital services and technologies likely to affect the future of exports and supply chains across sectors?
- How can we best establish which UK research and technology organisations are undertaking work for overseas companies, and which have operations outside of the UK?
- How can comparative advantage inform future trade and investment interests across regions and sectors? What are the limits of comparative advantage here?
- How can we evaluate additionality of government support in trade facilitation?
- How can we isolate the impact of export finance on trade in specific goods and services?
- How can various data sources inform how we identify and target support to large businesses which are high value or volume UK exporters?
- How can we best measure the impact of large exporters at a sub-regional level (for example, agglomeration effects, supply chain effects)? How can we measure the structure and interactions in the supply chain in exporting sectors?
- What further data sources could help us build a more complete picture of the exporter journey?
- Using regional and local studies, what is the impact of export finance services on localised markets? How does export finance services support regional growth and development?
- How do UK businesses compare with non-UK businesses in their use of trade finance and credit insurance?
- What impact do non-bank financial institutions providing export finance have on national financial markets?
- How does export finance help in developing an integrated supply chain?
- What are the best practices for the design and evaluation of export finance products and services?
- What are the global trends developments in the variety and scale of export finance products and services?
- How much does UK businesses’ ability to offer financing options for their products affect their likelihood of exporting and competitiveness?
- To what extent does evidence support the case for selective export promotion policy?
- What are the common costs of entering new markets for UK small and medium sized enterprises and what are the success rates in recovering these costs through new sales?
- To what extent is export support for large businesses effective in providing opportunities for small businesses in the UK supply chain? How regionally specific is this relationship?
- What factors have historically been important to identify large businesses which are high value or volume exporters? To what extent are these factors sector specific?
- What is the impact of large exporters on the UK economy beyond exports (for example. national and regional growth such as employment, investments, R&D, productivity and GVA)?
- What is the effect on wages, employment and survival on UK exporters versus non exporters?
- What is the productivity premium on exporters versus non-exporters in the UK?
- What is the persistent of exporting businesses in a market? What characteristics impact longevity of exporters in a market?
- What are the wider impacts associated with exporting, beyond firms directly affected? How does this vary by business size, export experience and sector?
- To what extent do business strategies include exporting as a means of achieving business growth? How does this vary by business characteristics?
- How can we effectively measure the long-term sectoral impacts of shifting consumer preferences for greener goods?
- How can we improve measurement of global emissions from international trade? To what extent have improved production
- How can we evaluate best practice intervention for addressing climate change and gender equality?
- How can specific provisions in trade agreements be effectively evaluated in terms of benefits to developing countries?
- What measurement approaches should be used to evaluate the impact of market access barriers on sustainable development?
- Which trade policy levers could have the greatest impact in terms of reducing global emissions? Which are the most realistic mechanisms to achieve clean growth?
- What can comparative advantage tell us, in the context of production shifts arising from climate change?
- With growing preference for greener investments, how should sustainability goals be balanced with ensuring all sectors can continue to access financial markets?
- What measures could help minimise the risks of de-forestation, biodiversity, and habitat loss in producer countries, without creating excessive trade distortion?
- How important are imports from developing countries for UK supply chains and what role can they play in diversification of supply chains?
- How can the pathways to decarbonisation of transport be evaluated against the UK’s international climate ambitions?
- How much has trade increased/decreased global emissions, through improving production processes and accentuating market failures?
- What impact would the introduction of carbon border taxes have on regional trade flows?
- How can DIT use ODA for response to COVID-19 crisis and recovery?
- In terms of business environment, which characteristics of developing markets should be considered when helping businesses engage in exporting activity?
- What is the impact of increased trade and investment on poverty reduction in developing countries?
- What specific trade and investment policy interventions are most effective in creating inclusive growth for both UK and developing countries?
- What data and methods can improve estimation of intra-regional trade within the UK?
- How can data flows be rapidly improved, promoting data sharing across research, government and industry to allow secure collaboration?
- How can we best model the impact of trade policy at a sub-national level (for example, by specific groups, sectors, and regions)?
- What research techniques are most effective in evaluating how trade policy drives prosperity?
- What is the capacity for increasing exports in those parts of the country where the levelling up agenda is particularly focused on?
- What are the sub-regional implications of future trade agreements and trade policy more broadly
- What role does trade play in variation in sub-regional growth productivity and employment in the UK?
- How useful is comparative advantage when identifying and evaluating opportunities across UK regions and sectors?
- To what extent do international trade expos help build the reputation of the UK and its regional strengths as a destination for international projects?
- How can we evaluate the performance of trade policy in delivering regional growth and international development?
- In response to a trade shock, what innovative approaches to support data collection, dissemination and application can be taken, without burdening businesses and frontline staff?
- What is the role of inward and outward investment in economic performance indicators, for example national and regional growth, employment, and macroeconomic stability?
- Which domestic policy levers can best address the externalities of trade reform, including impact on and adjustments costs to specific groups, sectors, and regions?
- How can the impact of cross-chapter provisions on dispute settlement mechanisms in trade agreements be effectively evaluated?
- What approaches can best measure injury to domestic producers from imports, in the context of targeting trade remedies? How can the direct and wider impacts of trade remedies be measured, including across sectors, regions and supply chains?
- What effect does COVID-19 have on business models and supply chain structure? How does the renewed focus on shortening or regionalisation vary by sector?
- Which methods and modelling approaches can best be used to inform trade dispute cases? How can the harm caused by incompliant measures and associated retaliation rights best be estimated?
- What are the most effective dispute settlement mechanisms within trade agreements? What scope is there for innovation?
- What conclusions can be drawn from patterns of anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard activity in previous business cycles? What lessons emerge from COVID-19 and recovery?
- What are the wider impacts associated with trade remedy measures, beyond firms directly affected?
- To what extent are trade remedies effective in protecting domestic production and employment? How regionally specific is this relationship?
- To what extent are trade remedies – applied under WTO agreements and bilaterally as part of free trade agreements – effective in achieving their stated objectives. How do they affect trade flows (including where jurisdictions adopt different duties)?
- What insights does the academic literature provide on the economics of trade remedies, and issues that have arisen in recent World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes, including subsidies and market distortions?
- How can we codify and measure the impact of non-regulatory barriers to trade, such as exchange rates, language, cultural, and geographical barriers?
- How can we best evaluate the impact of non-tariff, regulatory measures to trade in goods, including technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures?
- Where non-tariff measures behave as fixed costs to trade, how can these be most effectively incorporated in trade modelling?
- How can we better measure interactions of regulations and how they adapt in response to innovation?
- How can we quantify the impact of good regulatory practice?
- How can we quantify the impact of individual barriers on trade and investment?
- How can we measure the market access restrictiveness of a country from a UK perspective?
- How can various data sources inform how we identify, address and resolve market access barriers relating to goods, services and foreign investment?
- To what degree do barriers to procurement affect UK export and investment performance?
- To what extent are intellectual property rights enforced where there is infringement, and how practices differ across sector and business size?
- How does protection of intellectual property by patents, trademarks or design rights affect trade flows in across industries and business sizes?
- Does international regulatory cooperation help reduce regulatory barriers to trade in innovative products and services?
- To what extent does the use of international standards particularly facilitate trade with developing, low and middle-income countries?
- To what extent does the use of voluntary standards facilitate or restrict trade? How does this vary by country and sector?
- What are the economic costs faced by businesses across different sectors, in relation to conformity assessment?
- To what extent can market access barriers in some sectors have wider impact on trade in other sectors?
- To what extent do the impacts of market access barriers have varying effects according to the size of firm? How does this vary by the type of barrier?
- To what extent does regulatory divergence affect bilateral trade flows?
- How can we best evaluate the trade restrictiveness of different categories of non-tariff measures (at both bilateral and multilateral levels, across goods, services and investment)?
- How can artificial intelligence, machine learning, simulation, agent based modelling and other leading data science techniques contribute to better understanding of trade and investment patterns?
- How can we value non-FTA agreements (including the Government Procurement Agreement and mutual recognition agreements), in terms of total impact?
- How should the predictive accuracy of CGE models be assessed?
- How can we measure the impact of a trade agreement on value added trade? How does this differ by sector?
- What modern provisions most effectively address emerging technologies, emerging data flows and digital trade?
- How can trade agreements effectively incorporate the interests of regulatory agencies?
- What are the long-term impact of provisions that bind in existing market access and reduce uncertainty?
- How can we evaluate economic impact of customs and trade facilitation procedures following trade agreements?
- How can we best evaluate economic impact of including sectoral annexes to chapters in trade agreements?
- To what extent are the provisions in trade agreements utilised in practice? Which sectors or businesses are most likely to use them?
- How can we understand the value of provisions on mutual recognition of conformity assessment in trade agreements?
- How effective have existing trade agreements been in reducing the trade restrictiveness of non-tariff measures?
- Which elements of trade agreements have historically had the greatest impact on trade flows?
- How can global demand shocks (including for emergency and medical supplies) be best modelled, accounting for uncertainty?
- How can finance, logistics and other data be brought together to accurately track the ordering and delivery of emergency supplies through supply chains including medical supplies?
- How can geospatial analysis and mapping help monitor trade patterns during recovery and target business support?
- In the event of a trade shock, how can data requirements for taking rapid decisions be met using real time indicators (RTIs) and non-traditional sources of data? How can data science evaluate and improve the quality and reliability of RTIs?
- What can international best practice tell us about using data to manage the shock and recovery?
- How will COVID-19 affect global technological adoption rates and what will that mean for disruptions to global trade and investment patterns?
- What long-term trade opportunities and risks may arise from changes in the use of technology and ways of working resulting from COVID-19?/
- What challenges might developing economies face when engaging with the international economy that developed economies might not? How can the UK best support trade recovery in developing economies?
- What can we learn about sequencing the levels of intervention and openness in an economy following a shock? How can economic theories, such as transition economics, inform this?
- How can government policy best foster supply chain resilience, and incentivise businesses to develop supply chain resilience strategies?
- How can policy measures best encourage and support businesses to recover and return to international trade post-crisis, given differing attitudes to risk?
- How effective is trade and investment policy in creating economic security and resilience that safeguards against shocks? What can we learn from comparing different country responses?
- How can the UK best uphold the global rules-based system to support trade recovery?
- How have different sectors (aerospace, financial services, telecoms), sizes of business, regions and the self-employed been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and how might they be impacted differently by the recovery phase?
- What different patterns can be observed in trade and investment flows following exogenous shocks (such as COVID-19), compared to endogenous shocks (such as a financial shock) to the economy?
- What measures limit international trade restrictions on exports (including healthcare supplies) and investment resulting from global shocks?
- How can we assess the longer-term structural changes to the global trading system following a shock, including the assessment of the long-term impacts of short-term responses to COVID-19?
- How effective are trade in creative goods and services in contributing to the long-term promotion of cultural exchange?
- What methodologies can be applied or developed to quantify the generation of soft power through UK creative businesses’ international activities?
- Which international supply chains do creative businesses rely on? What are the levels of supply chain resilience in the creative industries, and how easily can they switch to alternative markets?
- What are the impacts of EU exit on trade in the creative industries and how does this compare to other industries?
- Which countries have adopted incentives which may reduce UK comparative advantage and attract talent from the UK? What are these incentives and what is the impact of these incentives?
- To what extent and how does the UK government’s investment in overseas cultural heritage protection impact on international trade flows between the UK and recipient countries?
- How does the UK’s digital offer for international cultural activity compare to other markets around the world? Where have there been market failures for digital policy in relation to international arts and culture activity and what are effective intervention options?
- What impact have technological and geopolitical changes had on global investment trends and has this altered investor sentiment?
- How can we best evaluate how businesses receive DIT’s communications, in terms of awareness, appeal and clarity?
- How can insights from behavioural economics and nudge theory inform business engagement with DIT products and services?
- What is the best way to track and measure the value of DIT’s service interventions?
- What is the relationship between easing and removing foreign investment restrictions and export performance bilaterally?
- What is the fragmentation impact of disparate data standards and regulations being developed globally?
- What impact do regulatory barriers have on trade in services?
- How can forecasting methods inform long-term total factor productivity growth?
- What evidence and methods are required to minimise the distortionary effects of carbon border taxes, and overcome the technical obstacles of tracking embedded carbon?
- What bilateral or multilateral engagement is most effective in preventing country-to-country disputes from being lodged?
- What are the best ways to measure business perceptions of risk in relation to exporting post COVID-19?
- How might COVID-19 shape wider social attitudes towards trade and investment?
- How could the WTO dispute settlement process be improved to better serve all member states?
- How do delays in obtaining finance affect international buyers’ confidence in UK exporters?
- What is the relative value of light touch, digital or automated support services in foreign investment support versus intensive face-to-face services?
- What further data sources could help us build a more complete picture of the investor journey, including who is involved?