Economic policy
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- What is the value of subsea communications cables to the UK economy, and should the UK seek to attract or incentivise the expansion of the subsea cable network?
- Evaluate current growth barriers or opportunities, understand where action is needed (by the Government or others) to address these barriers, and understand the impact of any interventions.
- Evaluate the extent to which the emerging regulatory landscape and the implementation of relevant regulation can be harnessed as a driver to support growth.
- How can the UK retain and expand its strategic advantage in relation to semiconductor IP, design, R&D and compound and advanced materials?
- What are the policy levers available in S&T to support and protect economic and national security How effective are they?
- What are the key determinants of economic security?
- How can the UK use its S&T strengths to protect national security?
- What are the risks to UK interests if the industry led, multi stakeholder nature of the global internet is weakened in favour of greater state- or multilateral control?
- How can we better join up digital standards with UK research and innovation sectors to ensure that digital standards are a valued element of the innovation lifecycle in the UK?
- What are the opportunities to influence global digital standards?
- How can the UK support firms to optimise the benefits of digital technical standards development? How can expertise of UK industry be better harnessed by government?
- How should global digital technical standards be understood and used, and how can we understand their costs and benefits? How do we work with global companies on this from a UK perspective?
- How can the UK foster international influence in digital policy, and what should the priorities be for cooperation over such policy?
- What does evidence suggest about how the UK could prepare for future trends?
- What does evidence suggest about how the UK could prepare for future trends?
- How should the UK mitigate the risks associated with emerging technologies, while taking advantage of the opportunities?
- What does research tell us about the impact of interventions that the Government has put in place to strengthen the UK's capabilities in digital and emerging technologies, and about possible future trajectories?
- What does research say about digital sectors or countries that pose the greatest risk of disruption to international cooperation over the use and governance of digital technology?
- Horizon scanning on the scenarios for digital and tech dominance over the near- and medium-term future.
- In what ways do security interventions (under the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021) in the telecoms market have an impact on investment within the sector? How is this broken down, in a quantitative manner, by fixed and mobile infrastructure?
- Identify the policy intervention options for mitigating barriers to UK capability, including analysis of how policy could stimulate or support (e.g. research and publications, start ups, investments, commercialisation). What can we learn from other countries’ approaches, or what are the ecosystem benefits we can emulate from the practice of leading international companies?
- 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).
- 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).
- Which of the future technologies will the UK have a comparative advantage in or face particular challenges in regard to global competition? How can the UK build strategic advantage in key technologies and how can the benefits be measured?
- What are the potential unintended consequences of digital technology (5G, ORAN, Fibre, etc) policies and to what extent could the market mitigate them?
- How can government funding be used most effectively to support future adoption of important technologies?
- There are legitimate but competing demands for access to the Upper 6GHz band by proponents of Wi-Fi and mobile services both internationally and in the UK. What are the advantages/disadvantages to the UK of an allocation favouring mobile or Wi-Fi compared to a hybrid option, which enables access but with limitations to both services?
- What are the potential opportunities and issues associated with the development and deployment of open telecoms solutions such as Open RAN, and how should government intervention be targeted to utilise or mitigate these? How is Open RAN adoption progressing and what is the likely trajectory? What are the barriers to adoption and acceptance of open architectures for 5G deployment and how are they changing? What are the economic benefits associated with this?
- 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?
- To what extent will mobile market consolidation impact: (i) mobile coverage, (ii) consumer choice, (iii) consumer behaviour? How might the government or regulatory body need to prepare or intervene?
- What are the (aggregate) impacts of current digital regulations implemented by the UK Government? What are the best/potential measures that can evaluate impacts? What could a best practice monitoring and evaluation framework look like?
- What is the trade-off of cost compared to security that companies are seeing? Could the cost of security cause businesses to minimise or abstain from effective security protocols and codes of practice that are produced by governments, regulators and international organisations/bodies? If so, what could be done to mitigate this risk?
- What cyber interventions that DSIT or NCSC runs are most likely to be adopted and what is the positive impact of these? What drivers exist for the adoption of these? What are the barriers to adoption? Do sectors with more stringent regulatory measures see higher adoption of cyber security principles than non-regulatory driven protocols? What other non-UK government frameworks matter most to organisations?
- What is needed to enable the public sector to adopt AI?
- What are the big strategic questions in relation to ‘Pro-Innovation Regulation’ that the government should be focused on? Do regulatory mandates and remits need to change and if so how, as markets and the economy continue to shift? Is sector-focused regulation struggling to cope with changing markets, and how should it interact with horizontal regulation? Should innovation be made an explicit part of regulators’ remit, without diluting their responsibility for consumer safety? How far should regulation be used to create new markets or shape existing ones?
- Are international regulatory frameworks and technical standards currently helping or hindering UK innovators in achieving scale? How do key stakeholders rate our regulatory system compared to international competitors? How active / influential has the UK been in shaping international efforts to establish regulations and standards? Have UK industry and government built new capabilities / coalitions, effective in shaping global technical standards?
- What impact are the governments ‘Pro-Innovation regulation’ policies having (including the Regulatory Horizons Council and Regulators Pioneer Fund) and how can we better evaluate such policies in the future? Can we create an evaluation system specifically designed to help businesses and regulators monitor and evaluate the impacts of different regulatory approaches to create a coherent consistent library from which lessons can be learnt?
- How can we scan the regulatory horizon to identify opportunities to improve the regulatory environment? What role can regulators play in helping government identify areas of regulation in need of reform (and what information could they provide)? As new technologies develop, how can we more effectively anticipate and ‘roadmap’ the need for regulation and/or standardisation? How can we estimate what/when risks will occur (based on TRL) and when regulation is needed?
- In what ways is the UK regulatory environment helping / hindering the plans and activities of innovators? Is it becoming more friendly or less friendly to innovators over time? Methodologically, what is the best way of measuring the health of the UK regulatory environment over time?
- How to assess the costs and benefits of existing international collaborations?
- How best to draw on collaborative research and innovation, international opportunities, and global talent to be resilient and competitive?
- What is the evidence for the effectiveness of UK intervention in the space sector?
- Innovation diffusion and adoption: How can we measure and understand the adoption and diffusion of new ideas and technologies across regions and sectors? How can we support more widespread adoption of existing and new innovations?
- Marginal value of RDI: What is the marginal value of RDI in a programme? Many different research projects are funded in open research calls - how does the average value of these research projects compare to the marginal value of the last research project chosen?
- Optimisation of strategy and priority setting institutions and governance in the RDI system: Do we have the right institutional model for strategy and priority setting at all levels across the UK RDI system to deliver the ambitions of the Science and Technology framework?
- What data and metrics exist which could be used to estimate the return on R&I activities?
- How do investments in R&I (e.g. infrastructure, partnerships) contribute to reputation and influence?
- Use of statistics: Who is using official statistics, where do they find them, how are they being used, and what influences this? What do people look for in statistics or data being used as evidence to have confidence in using them, and how can we build this confidence?
- How can DWP best contribute to net zero by driving reductions in emissions through work and pensions policies, estates and operations?
- How can the benefit system best help low income and vulnerable households with their housing costs? What is the impact of DWP’s expenditure on housing support? What factors impact on evictions, homelessness and rough sleeping? How effective are policies designed to reduce homelessness?
- How can policy action best support decarbonisation of aviation? What is the most appropriate role for market-based measures compared to other policy measures? How should market based measures and other policy measures be designed to mitigate the risk of unintended consequences?
- 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?
- How can government intervention promote UK trade and exports?
- What are the audience insights across Secretary of State and Government priorities as well as ongoing marketing projects (Build Back Better, etc.)?
- What are the benefits and barriers for devolved transport policy? How do we build on our current devolution policy to further maximise effective working practices?
- What approach should central Government take to best manage and organise road freight / logistics in the UK to make it more efficient, resilient and reduce its environmental impact and what would be its likely impact on costs and competition in the supply chain?
- How can transport investment release additional land for housing and deliver wider economic benefits?
- How do different models of funding, planning and decision-making result in different outcomes for transport e.g., centralised vs. devolved; public vs. private operation of networks/asset management; short vs. long-term?
- What are the infrastructure, airspace, regulatory and skills requirements for the UK space industry and what are the impacts of existing government interventions?
- 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?
- What tools can we best use to reflect Levelling Up objectives within transport appraisal: for example, improved data visualisation, local prosperity metrics, place-based analysis, or distributional weights.
- How can we best evaluate the impact of DIT’s campaigns and events on businesses?
- How do non-UK businesses and publics perceive the UK as a trade and/or investment partner?
- 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?
- What are the holistic economic and fiscal impacts of online gambling protections?
- 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?
- Undertake cost-benefit methodologies to assess economic and wider societal value of a broad range of potential interventions on gambling?
- Which countries excel at facilitating the commercialisation and export of new technologies and why?
- 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 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 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 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?
- 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?
- How can we best evaluate the barriers to trade in services and their impact on trade flows?
- 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?
- 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 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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 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 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?
- How important are imports from developing countries for UK supply chains and what role can they play in diversification of supply chains?
- In terms of business environment, which characteristics of developing markets should be considered when helping businesses engage in exporting activity?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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)?
- 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 quantify the impact of good regulatory practice?
- To what degree do barriers to procurement affect UK export and investment performance?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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 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 role should government play in encouraging upskilling or reskilling for those in the labour market to make skills supply more responsive to local economic needs? What barriers do working individuals face when retraining?
- 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 do skills needs in the national and local economy and qualifications of our labour force match up? Can careers advice policies, the Teaching Excellence Framework and spending decisions improve effectiveness?
- 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 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?
- 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 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 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?
- Assess and provide evidence for effective interventions to reduce inactivity (undertaking under 30 minutes of exercise per week for the adult population, 16+), and increase physical activity (defined as +150 minutes per week for the adult population), considering underrepresented groups and demographics, as well as the cost benefit analysis.
- 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?
- What supply and demand side interventions would be appropriate and what could be their impact?
- What barriers exist to building sustainable business models in the press sector and what action is required to remove these?
- What impact is increasing consolidation in the local and national press sectors having on press plurality, and to what extent is consolidation necessary to secure financial sustainability of the sector?
- What are the long-term financial sustainability considerations for the BBC, including from the changing media market and any learnings from international PSB funding models?
- What kind of mix of business models for PSB and non-PSB broadcasters might the market sustain going forwards?
- How can innovative forms of commissioning and effective cross-sector collaboration improve outcomes at local levels?
- What are the regional disparities across CSY’s policy responsibilities?
- How can collaboration between organisations, commissioners and other funders across CSY sectors and actors be enhanced at local levels to support better outcomes?
- What forms of funding and support have been shown to be effective for this sector, to maximise sector health and beneficial outcomes?
- How effective is social investment in building resilient local (social) economies and civil society, and in delivering social impact?
- What are the drivers and barriers of other funders of the sector, including social and mainstream investors and commissioners?
- Analyse to what extent the AHTassets/offer act as push and pull factors in people and business decisions to move, stay or leave for a different location? What does this mean for public investment policy in culture, heritage and tourism and growth of cultural clusters?
- What methodologies could be applied to AHT sectors and subsectors, which would allow for information to underpin policy interventions in those sub-sectors?
- What impact have technological and geopolitical changes had on global investment trends and has this altered investor sentiment?
- Assess and evaluate the most effective methods of measuring the impact of tourism marketing, to demonstrate its effectiveness and value for money.
- Analyse and explain the barriers to the growth of the UK art market and assess what government interventions would be effective to help overcome these barriers.
- Analyse and explain the interactions across the cultural sector value chain and the relative importance of parts of the value chain to growth and sector resilience to understand how future policy interventions should be targeted.
- Identify the key drivers/determinants of productivity within AHT sectors, including which policies can increase the economic productivity of organisations.
- 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?
- What is the best/most appropriate indicator of financial health and sustainability of AHT organisations? At what point do AHT organisations become at risk and might require government intervention to secure their long term survival?
- Analyse the most significant factors that create barriers/risks to financial health for AHT organisations. What policy interventions can reduce financial risk for these organisations?
- Analyse and explain the current and future factors that affect the supply of regional private giving. What innovative methods can be used by small regional organisations to increase private giving?
- 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?