Paving the Digital Silk Road with China’s Standards

China is striving to become a leader in international standard setting, and the Digital Silk Road, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to expand its global infrastructure and markets, is key to realizing this goal. In a paper published last week, Alex He described how both roads depend on standard connectivity, fuelled by Chinese private companies that are the driving force behind China’s growing role as a leader in technology development and shaping standards in both domestic and global markets. This new video, narrated by He, discusses some of the points raised in his paper.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, access to international media in Russia, including social media platforms, has been cut off. Globally, Russian disinformation and propaganda now confront facts and evidence of war crimes gathered by journalists and non-governmental organizations. How will the Russian invasion of Ukraine affect the global discussion around disinformation and platform governance? CIGI asked six experts for their thoughts.

In February, US Homeland Security revealed its intentions to deploy 100-pound robot dogs to the US-Mexico border. Because they can better withstand the bleak, scorching landscapes spread by runaway climate change, intelligent weapons systems seem well-suited to guard desolate border areas in a hotter world. But, Kyle Hiebert writes, deploying “killer robots” won’t address what’s causing rising global levels of climate displacements and irregular migration.

At the best of times, obtaining the full range of our personal health data can be challenging, especially so for those with less access to technology and other advantages. That’s not a surprise, given a system organized around providers rather than patients, as Canada’s is, write University of Waterloo President and Vice-Chancellor Vivek Goel and CIGI President Rohinton P. Medhora, in this op-ed that also appeared in the Toronto Star. Technology, policy, governance and accountability all are at play — each area subject to reform, in work that should begin now, with patients fully at its centre.

Apr. 6 and Apr. 7 – 1:00 p.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): Last week, CIGI and the University of Waterloo hosted a virtual conference exploring the intersection between health data, digital health and governance for the betterment of society and improved public health outcomes.

You can now watch recordings of the conference keynotes by Rohinton P. Medhora, speaking on best practices for data governance nationally and internationally, and Vivek Goel, discussing the challenge of federated data in Canada.

Last October, CIGI and Oliver Wyman held a special virtual session focused on the specific challenges for regulation and supervision in the financial ecosystem where new technologies such as blockchain are favouring the introduction of crypto-assets — which, de facto, represent a possible challenge to central banks’ monopoly on monetary supply. In this report, Giovanni Tria, Angelo Federico Arcelli and Andrea Federico present the key findings and discussions from the conference.

Spy wars in the shape of a societal hunt for collaborators can be a malignant cancer, feeding on a desperately tired and wounded society, writes Wesley Wark in this op-ed that also appeared in the National Post. Wark says that it will be one of Ukraine’s greatest survival challenges, as the conflict drags on, to avoid succumbing to a divisive and ugly spy war at home while trying to win one against the Russians.