Digital Transformation and Public Policies

Conclusion

The main objective of this book was to study public policies and how the use of digital tools affects them by raising several questions: are public actors increasingly mobilizing these tools? What are the instruments/mechanisms chosen? Do the categories of digital tools used influence the objectives and implementation of public policies? If so, in what way(s)?

While it is impossible to provide exhaustive answers to these questions, given the variety of both the policies conducted and the instruments or combinations of digital instruments that can be used, we have chosen to shed light on this issue through three illustrations: digital platforms and innovation policies, microsimulation models and social policies, and Big Data and health policies. Each of them highlights the effects of digitalization on public actions and policies.

Digital tools and public policies: towards increased integration… but not without difficulties

The study areas have enabled us to highlight several lessons. First, there is no single answer to the questions posed, and the specificity of the policies conducted in particular fields requires adapted tools, reflecting the objectives of the policy concerned, its challenges and its obstacles. For example, the case of Open Data and health policy raises crucial issues of ownership: who owns the data? Who can use it – researchers, practitioners, patients, companies? And for what type of use?

Second, beyond the specificities linked to the themes chosen ...