Prof. Shishir K Jha, Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies, IIT Bombay gave a talk on The Tentacles of Digital Growth and Governance on 14 April. The talk was moderated by Dr. Aakansha Natani. The seminar was organized under the  Jean Monnet module on ‘Digital Democracy and Data Governance in the European Union’.

The talk introduced four provocations with respect to the digital economy. First, that it has had the quickest and most unprecedented growth when compared to brick and mortar industries. Second, that it is causing a considerable disruption in them. Third, that data is a core political economy question. Lastly, digital data is becoming a new class of economic asset that can be extracted 24/7, and has significant use as a public good.

Each of these four were addressed through the course of the seminar individually, analysing them within the real context and from a historical perspective. Through drawing parallels in other media forms, the unprecedented nature of the economy was highlighted. Further, the commodification of data and its rapidly growing value was also addressed. Its scope as a public good and its potential to represent a community’s collective intelligence was also brought about.

 The audience participated actively in the discussion, bringing out points in agreement and opposition during the seminar. Overall, it was an active conversation, and left everyone engaged with new perspectives and insights.

April 2025