Digital Sovereign Trap: Avoiding the Return of Silos and a Divided World, By Dr. Thorsten Jelinek
[Beijing, 7 September 2023] Today, the book "The Digital Sovereignty Trap: Avoiding the Return of Silos and a Divided World" by Dr. Thorsten Jelinek was presented in a launch event hosted by Taihe Institute and Springer Nature in Beijing.
The book dives into the history of the telecom sector and traces how we arrived at a global technology innovation ecosystem. It is this highly efficient international collaboration which is under threat today. The author urges policymakers not to fall back to the technology silos of the past.
Dr. Thorsten Jelinek, visiting scholar at Hertie School's Centre for Digital Governance in Berlin, Senior Fellow and Europe Director at Taihe Institute said: “Artificial intelligence poses a much greater challenge than telecoms ever could. Now is the time to work together, to strengthen ties between countries, and seek open technology exchange. Worryingly, many countries are headed in the opposite direction right now.”
(From left to right: Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa, European Union consultant, AsiaGlobal Fellow at Asia Global Institute, HKU; Ding Yifan, Senior Fellow of Taihe Institute; Thorsten Jelinek, Visiting Scholar at Hertie School Centre for Digital Governance; Thorsten Giehler, Regional Director and Chief Representative of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in China and Mongolia; Mattie Bekink, China Director, Economist Intelligence Corporate Network at The Economist Intelligence Unit)
Instead of assessing the benefits and drawbacks of digital transformation, the pursuit of sovereignty is veering into protectionism and coercion. The competition between the United States, Europe, and China underscores this shift. Policymakers emphasize narratives of "systemic rivalry", “autonomy”, “like-mindedness”, “de-risking”, or “self-reliance”. Consequently, the global information and communication technology (ICT) innovation ecosystem, which emerged from the Internet revolution and rise of liberal values of the 1980s and 1990s, now confronts challenges that threaten global growth and development. Growing ideological and technological divides further weaken multilateralism, curbing global innovation and hindering economic development globally.
Einar Tangen, Senior Fellow at Taihe Institute, added: “Disentangling the technological innovation ecosystem by “De-risking” from China actually brings significant risk to Europe to fall even further behind in digitalization and, in particular, the 5G rollout.”
Beyond the immediate technological and economic concerns associated with such a decoupling, the book dives into the complexities of artificial intelligence. It accentuates the need for global governance, now at a crucial juncture. It charts a way to promote progress without raising new digital walls.
Dr. Niels Thomas, President, Greater China & Managing Director, Books, Springer Nature, underlined this: “We publish about 50 books a day, but this book launch I choose to attend, because this book is more than timely. It is indispensable for understanding the profound shifts in global digital power. Every policymaker will benefit from the lessons the book has drawn from the history and the insights it brings for our shared digital future.”
About the author
Thorsten Jelinek is an international policy expert with a focus on the intersection of digitalization, cybersecurity, and international relations. He is the Europe Director of the Taihe Institute and holds a visiting fellowship with the Hertie School’s Centre for Digital Governance. Jelinek is an active member of the Think 20 where his policy contributions have been included in T20 communiqués presented at G20 leaders' summits, including his brief on “The creation of a G20 coordinating committee for the governance of AI.” Previously, Jelinek was a member of ITU’s Connect2Recover Initiative and served on the advisory board of the OECD’s Trust in Business Initiative. He also contributed to the Belt & Road Forums, United Nations’ High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum. Jelinek was an Associate Director at the World Economic Forum and held managerial positions in the ICT industry. His academic background includes a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a B.Sc. in Software Engineering and Business Administration from the Berlin University of Applied Sciences.
——————————————
ON TIMES WE FOCUS.
Should you have any questions, please contact us at public@taiheglobal.org
