Digital Economy Board of Advisors Delivers Recommendations for Trump Administration

The Trump administration should explore how to improve access to the post-secondary education system, including by aligning high school graduation requirements with the entry requirements of U.S. colleges and “high-quality” credentialing programs, DEBA said. Improvements also are needed for training in digital skills, including those aimed at careers in digital economy sectors, the group said. Commerce should lead the federal government's discussions on improving training in high-demand skills like those in the digital economy, DEBA said. Commerce should improve metrics and data collection about the labor market to better gauge U.S. workers' training in digital skills, the group said. There also need to be improvements to U.S. labor laws and to the understanding of what constitutes good job benefits in the evolving economy, DEBA said.

DEBA recommended the federal government employ a four-part framework for measuring the digital economy, including expanding the Commerce and Bureau of Economic Analysis metrics to include aspects of digital economy investment and expenditures. Commerce should gather information on the size of the digital economy, including developing metrics to measure the extent to which U.S. businesses use digital technologies in commercial and noncommercial transactions, the group said. Commerce should gather more direct information on consumers' adoption of new technologies, online services and other digital goods, DEBA said. Commerce, including BEA, should continue to gather better data on the digital economy's contribution to the U.S. gross domestic product, along with data on prices in the information and communications technology sector, the group said. Commerce should also agree on a “Technology Taxonomy” to identify emerging areas of economic activity and develop metrics for those areas, DEBA said.

The federal government should consider policies that encourage the use of digital platforms to increase competition, especially small and medium-sized businesses' use of platforms, DEBA said. The federal government should encourage the growth of platforms by prioritizing international cross-border data flows, particularly by using bilateral and multilateral agreements to stem the growth of problematic laws aimed at stemming data flows, the group said. The federal government should consider policies aimed at advancing IoT, including improvements to IoT cybersecurity and a “national strategy” for advancing the “industrial” IoT, DEBA said.

The Trump administration also should consider exploring policy opportunities for cybersecurity issues, privacy issues, encryption, government access to data and regulatory complexity, DEBA said. The group said it's exploring those issues for potential inclusion in a later work product. Although there are “few one-size-fits-all solutions,” the federal government should still “embrace a review of its policy activities to ensure they are well-adapted to the goal of strengthening the digital economy,” DEBA said.

Each of DEBA's recommendations “requires collaboration,” said Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker during the group's meeting. “If you think about how every one of these thoughts and ideas is important, well thought out and should be carried out with great expedition … you're talking about collaboration within” Commerce, including NTIA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and BEA. Pritzker encouraged DEBA to focus on how to move its recommendations forward into the incoming Trump administration. “We expect” Commerce “to continue to play a leadership role on digital economy issues, both within the U.S. government but also around the world,” Pritzker said. “It's very important that we have a seat at the policymaking table alongside those representing national security issues. When you think about the issues that are facing the growth and breadth of the digital economy, there are national security issues but there are also economic issues and it's important that is understood and your guidance and advice to the department and to the next administration are important as individuals begin to think about the breadth and scope of what they are facing, as it relates to the digital economy and to the threats to our digital infrastructure.”

DEBA's report will “help close the gap” in knowledge about the digital economy, said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling during the meeting. “I think they do a lot to ... narrow that gap and remedy the misunderstandings.” The report is only an “intermediate” step for DEBA, and “it will be important to engage the new leadership of [Commerce] when they are onboard after Jan. 20 as well as engaging the White House to continue to emphasize the importance of this work in these activities in the next administration,” Strickling said. “I think we can take some comfort from the discussions” during Trump's Wednesday meeting with top tech sector leaders (see 1612140060). “I think if that follows through, this ought to be a very, very important set of issues for the next administration,” Strickling said. “I think [DEBA] is well-positioned to make immediate and important contributions into that effort.”

Conversations since the presidential election revealed a “sense of the gap between public understanding of what's happening in the digital economy and actions that can be taken by the public and private sectors, and the feeling of so many people who are uneasy about what it means for them personally,” said DEBA co-Chairwoman Zoe Baird during the meeting. “The issues we have been talking about were not part of the election conversation. And yet we know that the great challenge of our time is to make everyone have opportunity in this digital economy and feel included.” The report is important because the “digital revolution has really upended people's sense of direction and opportunity,” Baird said. “We are in this transformation where digital technology is impacting everything.”