Policy area: Digital

Reports

Health data research service (HDRS) digital ecosystem analysis

This report from UK think tank Nesta provides an evidence-based assessment of the technical and clinical digital infrastructure underpinning the UK’s health data assets. The new Health Data Research Service (HDRS) can create the technical infrastructure, operational capacity and governance processes to join these capabilities into a coherent national system. As a once-in-a-generation opportunity to...

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AI and the future of work

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute outlines the first findings from a major new tracker of attitudes to AI and work. Seven in 10 of the UK public are worried about the economic impacts of AI, six in 10 think it will eliminate more jobs than it creates, half think its impact...

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From legacy to leadership: upgrading the digital state

This report from UK think tank Re:State makes the case for forcing government staff to take the risk from obsolete IT seriously by creating a new Digital Modernisation Taskforce. The State is inseparable from the digital technology it uses. It is impossible to imagine a government without the software which underpins the everyday interactions with...

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The use of AI in UK healthcare

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute examines public perceptions and healthcare priorities. AI is creating a significant shift in how people access healthcare, yet public attitudes to the technology remain deeply divided, according to a major new study by King's Health Partners, Responsible AI UK and the Policy Institute at King's College...

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How a surge in defence and dual-use technology investment could reconfigure the global AI race

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores four important trends that have accelerated in the past year and which could start a shift towards a multipolar AI market. The AI race is often presented as one between the US and China, with other countries having little to no chance of catching up. Geopolitical...

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Stuck on you: How to make social media good again

This report from UK think tank IPPR explores how to make social media good again. How social media has changed over the last 20 years to make us more isolated from each other online, and what needs to change. Social media inarguably poses threats to democracy: disinformation and misinformation, polarisation, echo chambers, bots and rage-inducing...

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Byte the Budget?

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation investigates the state of digital transformation in universities across the UK. British universities are often seen as leaders in research – but are our universities equipped to maintain this status in an increasingly digital age? This report investigates the state of digital transformation in institutions...

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Developing a framework for secure third-party access to frontier AI

This report from UK think tank RUSI delivers a critical framework for securely enabling third-party evaluation of frontier AI models. This paper delivers a critical framework for securely enabling third-party evaluation of frontier AI models, directly addressing the urgent need for robust safety and security in the defence and security sector as AI capabilities rapidly...

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Breaking the deadlock on AI governance

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores how a crisis could lead to global coordination. International AI governance is at risk of failure. Rapid geopolitical change, institutional weakness and asymmetries between the public and private sectors appear to make cooperation on AI near impossible. Proponents of inclusive, effective and global AI governance must...

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Public cyber attribution in the Global South: Indo-Pacific

This report from UK think tank RUSI underscores the importance of understanding the Global South’s perspectives on cyber attribution to help navigate the complexities of a multipolar world. Global South approaches to public cyber attribution are more cautious than Western approaches, due to factors including cultural background, foreign policy goals and perceptions of western double...

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Smart city surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI surveillance across 11 countries

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies warns that surveillance is violating citizens' freedoms and their human right to privacy. This report provides the most comprehensive account to date of smart city surveillance in Africa. Expert researchers draw on their contextual experience of their own countries in detailed reports on Algeria,...

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Strengthening UK-South Korea cyber security cooperation

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines the current state of bilateral cooperation on cyber security and provides recommendations to strengthen the partnership. This research paper highlights the critical importance of the UK–Republic of Korea (UK–ROK) Strategic Cyber Partnership (SCP) in addressing shared cyber security challenges and advancing mutual interests, including in the Indo-Pacific....

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Privacy-enhancing technologies in the crypto industry

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines the growing role of PETs in the crypto industry and the need to balance compliance with innovation. This Insights Paper examines the need to balance compliance objectives with the growing role of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) in the crypto industry. ​ Based on discussions from a July 2025...

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The digital-democractic doom loop: Social media and the breaking of the state-citizen relationship

This report from UK think tank Demos argues that the doom loop is exacerbated by the concentration of wealth, ownership and power in the private sector. In this paper author and journalist Phil Tinline argues that modern democracies are caught in a “digital-democratic doom loop” in which declining trust in the state, economic stagnation, and...

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Beyond the border: Upstreaming responses to serious organised crime threats

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity examines the threats facing Britain from serious and organised crime and how we can tackle it. A timely new report from the Coalition for Global Prosperity, authored by Senior Researcher Zoe Swanwick and introduced by Richard Baker, Member of Parliament for Glenrothes and Mid...

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Related Events

2 June 2026

Location: Online

Think tank: Institute of Development Studies

AI for global health: From product development to policy

This event hosted by UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies takes stock of where AI is shifting the dial in global health. Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from research labs into the hands of community health workers, clinics, and public health programmes that shape outcomes for billions of people. But, how do we...

4 June 2026

Location: Online

Think tank: The King's Fund

Progress under pressure: digital leadership in a turbulent system

This event hosted by UK think tank the King's Fund explores what health and care leaders need to truly shift from analogue to digital. As one of the three shifts set out in the 10 Year Health Plan, technology and the digitisation of health and care is expected to change the way people access and...

8 June 2026

Location: Online

Think tank: The King's Fund

From data silos to real-time solutions

This event hosted by UK think tank the King's Fund discusses how the NHS Federated Data Platform is supporting people and teams across the NHS. The NHS and its workforce face constant operational challenges – from managing patient flow and theatre capacity to joining up care across different providers. Access to real-time data is essential...

9 June 2026

Location: Online / Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LE

Think tank: Chatham House

AI, work, and the future of global competitiveness

This event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House discusses what LinkedIn data reveals about AI, growth and workforce change. AI adoption is accelerating globally at unprecedented pace, becoming a central driver of geopolitical influence and economic competitiveness. As AI moves from experimentation to deployment, competitive advantage is increasingly shaped not by who has developed...

Related Articles

What is important when thinking about digital government services?

Digital government services must be made truly accessible to reduce inequalities By Josh Abel (Fabian Society) The pandemic has brought the digital divide to the forefront of public policy debate. During lockdown, far too many children were unable to learn from home because they could not access the internet and millions of households faced social isolation because they were...

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