Digital Commons
The Digital Commons is a
forward-looking strategy for industrial innovation in the
digital age based on
a first implementation at lowRISC CIC in Cambridge.
Whereas
1. We
are living through a hugely
disruptive time akin to the industrial revolution driven by
everything on the
planet acquiring a digital representation
2. There
is a lack of a UK vision
or approach for delivering growth, technology sovereignty,
dealing with the
haves and have-nots, as well the fundamental risk of being
excluded from
technology platforms
3. All
aspects of the way our
society exists will completely depend on the data and the
platform used to
deliver applications. This includes every kind of manufactured
item and is not
restricted to software-only situations
4. Using
the market or money to
buy the service may not be possible or desirable - the NHS covid
app is an
example
5. The
direction of travel
towards the digital component being an indispensable part of
every kind of
industrial activity is inevitable
A UK Digital Commons
1. A
set of sector-specific
digital infrastructure components actively managed and of
industrial-quality
2. Consisting
of data, code,
platforms, designs, tutorials - a kind of industrial
kit-of-parts akin to
Wikipedia
3. Crowded
in, jointly developed,
and shared by participating entities as a basis for (competing)
downstream
products
4. Easy
to use because of
industrial-level quality and no IP risk
5. Available
at low or no direct
cost to qualified entities: these can be categorised by funding,
regulation,
industrial groupings, business goals, political priorities, etc.
Such entities
will find it much easier to innovate because they will have a
head start and
concentrate on their proprietary innovative step
6. Can
be made fully open to
establish new markets, destroy current market structures, and
landgrab. This is
a realistic (and possibly only) strategy for the UK to grow
large companies
7. A
public and (mostly) private
partnership
8. Guaranteed
to be maintained in
the same way as conventional infrastructure
9. Declared
as a UK strategy and
incentivised by government (of whichever complexion)
Strategic Benefits
1. Provides
a much easier
innovation and growth path for UK business
2. Deals
with the barriers to
innovation presented by large monopolists
3. Builds
communities of
well-trained individuals and pools of know-how grounded in the
UK
4. Provides
a level of technology
sovereignty
5. Equally
accessible from any
part of the UK therefore deals with the haves and the have-nots
by default
6. Manages
the complexity of
digital systems including the cybersecurity attack surface
7. Provides
a framework for
standardisation, regulation, and legislation centred on the UK
8. Represents
a structurally
novel approach at improving UK growth and global positioning
Approach/Incentivisation/Governance
1. Implemented
by industrial
consortia to share burden of complexity, cost, and maintenance
2. Aggregated,
coordinated, and
perpetuated using independent, not-for-profit, fit-for-purpose,
engineering
companies - grounded in UK because such companies cannot be
bought
3. Encouraged
by tax incentives
such as Digital Commons tax credits (incentives for companies to
join and crowd
in improvements)
4. Available
to universities and
public sector research establishments with direct rewards for
crowding in
components
5. Requiring
some government
participation and funding to catalyse strategy and ground it in
the UK - a pure
market solution will not happen
Example Sectors
About a dozen sectors in
the first
instance for example:
1. Silicon
Commons and Digital
Trust - lowRISC CIC is a fully developed existing example
2. AI
Commons
3. Energy
Control and Management
Commons
4. etc
Andy Hopper
9 August 2023