Regulatory Innovation

As part of Political Economy of Regulation theme, integral to  the relaunch of CREATe as the Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy, CREATe is researching evolving modes of digital regulation. The previous phase of this work documented the emergence of Platform regulation as a policy object in the UK. Subsequently, the focus has moved to regulatory innovation, i.e. how regulators deal with the challenge of spillover beyond traditional regulatory remits. For example, an online app store can present privacy, consumer protection, market competition as well as IP challenges, all in the same digital service. AI technology has amplified the issue.

In the UK, the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) was established in 2020 by CMA, Ofcom, ICO and FCA as a coordination structure for bringing “coherence to resolve potential tensions between our members’ regulatory regimes; collaboration to work together on complex challenges; and capabilities for the future, with the right people, skills and critical functions to navigate the rapidly developing digital economy.”

Martin Kretschmer and Philip Schlesinger are engaging in a long-term project, studying empirically how regulation actually works in the context of such digital spillover. Such internationalisation of governance models is a further topic of thematic interest. The DRCF model of coordination has been followed in several jurisdictions, reflecting  geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts in states’ regulatory systems.