Issue Automated compliance routing for cross-border data

Summary

Regulation modelled on the EU's General Data Protection Regulation is spreading from California and Canada to Japan and Brazil, and the Middle East and North Africa region is starting to impose strong cross-border data rules. AI laws will make compliance even more demanding, adding friction to data flows. Those flows matter because the digital economy accounts for 17.3% of global GDP, about $20 trillion in 2025, and restrictions everywhere could lower global GDP by 4.5%. Yet the evidence also suggests that simply abolishing data rules would not be optimal, while flows combined with trust could lift global GDP by 1.8% and exports by 3.6%. The opportunity Dubai Future Foundation identifies is automated systems that route and process data across jurisdictions while respecting diverse sovereignty, privacy and security requirements.