Issue Digital public-private partnerships around data rather than infrastructure

Summary

Digital public-private partnerships are hybrid arrangements that let data, algorithms and computing capacity flow between public and private actors. Their aim is to balance public value, private innovation and regulatory legitimacy. Traditional partnerships centre on building and financing physical infrastructure, whereas these treat shared digital resources and services as strategic factors of production. Examples include digital diagnostics, mobility as a service and digital identity systems. Such arrangements already exist at project level, as when Microsoft supported the World Health Organization during COVID-19 with platforms for clinical trials and help in organising national health data, and the opportunity lies in making them sustainable.