Designing governance and policy for disruptive digital technologies

Abstract The last decade has witnessed a debate about the disruptive role of emerging digital technologies. At the heart of this debate is the issue of big data, which underpins the operations of these digital technologies but creates a series of new risks and issues for society and governments. New policy problems concerning data require formulators of new governance strategies and innovative policy designs. In this introduction to the special issue Data Policy and Governance, we examine scholarship on data governance and data policy, with a particular focus on emerging contributions on these topics. We also present the six articles that make up this special issue and indicate trends and future research directions from the discussion. This review demonstrates how data governance and policy are central to the digital world and require new designs and dynamics to deal with instruments, mixes, practices, and regulatory mechanisms.