Our 3 Key Findings
Focusing on how organisations can move from being ‘Watchdogs of Industry, to Champions of the Public’.
Our key findings are based on the exploration of the drivers of trust and distrust in relation to tech governance, an analysis of citizen dialogues and a multi-stakeholder consultation of over 100 different individuals and groups who gave us fantastic feedback and candid views which were invaluable.
Citizens trust governance when they can see it is effective in standing up for the public interest. When it is working. Laws designed and enforced, breaches published. But regulators are often shy and governance not designed in this traditional mode. Either way, dialogues show citizens want to see more from them, to help them trust this system and to help them help themselves in understanding and navigating new tech.
The main cause of distrust is the perception, and sometimes reality, that governance is more about smoothing the path of tech than upholding the public interest. Its impartiality and independence of the potential narrow interests of any one stakeholder group or the loudest voices - even those of citizens or civil society groups - is important to its legitimacy and to trust.
The greatest concerns of citizens, civil society groups and many academics is most often the ethical, moral and social impacts of the many new tech. Not just ‘is it safe’ but ‘what is it doing to society’, ‘should we use it at all’?. Navigating this complex terrain is commonly assumed to be for politicians, but it is increasingly becoming the domain of governance institutions who have to create the frameworks and laws which uphold societal values.
Our findings are crystallised in the observation of PA Consulting in their excellent document Rethinking Regulators: that the role of regulators and governance institutions is changing. From being ‘Watchdogs of Industry’ they are now expected to be ‘Champions of the public’. In that role, they will be needing these new skills.
Click on the document below for a stand-alone document featuring the section from our report which outlines our 3 Key Findings.
Too see it in context, full report is available here or in the Trust section of the home page.
Download the 3 Key Findings