Recommendation 1

The growing influence of private companies in global technology governance, and on the norms and rules that shape our societies, has profound implications for the future role and identity of the nation-state. The Government has yet to demonstrate that it has seriously considered its role and influence within this new environment and how it might manage the consequences of these shifts in influence and identity. In the forthcoming International Technology Strategy, we recommend that the FCDO clearly articulates what it understands its future role in global tech governance to be and how it intends to engage with private companies and relevant multinational bodies to project UK norms and values in global policy-making fora. We further recommend that the FCDO identifies a Minister with clear responsibility for this work within the Department and sets out how its work interacts with that of other Government departments.