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In recent years, the world has seen rapid growth in private and public digital platforms. Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and other high-tech companies outperform traditional global corporations in capitalization. States are developing their own platforms, combining citizens and business to effectively provide public services. The speakers of the International Forum “Open Innovations” discussed this trend and the main issues of further development at the session “Digital Platform for the Nation 5.0”.

The platforms themselves are not new, as a place where supply and demand combine in a certain market, Boris Glazkov, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives of Rostelecom PJSC, recalled: “From Hand to Hand” Newspaper is also a platform. As a type of business model and an economic agent, platforms have been existed for a long time. Their effectiveness was not just so high before the time of information technologies.”

Digital platforms set regulatory rules on their markets themselves, but they are forced to consider local restrictions when they become international companies. “In a good way, we need a dialogue of all parties. But are global platforms like Facebook and Google ready to dialogue? It is highly questionable whether they will come to terms with regulation in individual countries. And this is exactly the question for the state in our country,” said Boris Glazkov.

Former Head of the Australian Government's Digital Transformation Department, Paul Shetler, believes that it’s better to create an ecosystem of several digital platforms so that they compete with each other to ensure its development: “We have built five state digital platforms in Australia. The process is not yet completed, we will add more and more new ones.” A single platform for the public sector will more efficiently ensure data security, retorts the Former Head of IT Department of the Government of Israel, Yair Frank. People must trust the platform, otherwise there will be no development.

“The purpose of platforms for the nation 5.0 is client-centricity. A citizen should be at the center of state platforms, and all notifications that the citizen will receive must be customized. I don’t need to buy a stroller if I don’t have children. But I need to renew my driver’s license from time to time,” said Yair Frank.

Randeep Sudan, founder of Multiverz startup in Singapore, believes that any state that works with AI should pursue a sound regulatory policy by developing a long-term strategic plan.

“The government shall monitor the processing and transmission of user data by private sector companies that provide digital identification services to citizens. It is important to control that the data is used only for its intended purpose,” said Randeep Sudan.

The issue of collection, storage and use of user personal data by global digital platforms remains a sensitive issue for many people. This cannot be solved by state regulation, it depends on the internal rules of companies. The speakers came to the conclusion that the “digital footprint” should belong to the person who left it. “We must give people back the right to manage their data,” said Paul Shetler.