Techno-Nationalism

Chapter 29Techno-Diplomacy and the Road Ahead

Denmark became the first country to officially station its diplomats in Silicon Valley. While it may not be appropriate to say that Meta, Google, Apple and other tech giants qualify as de facto nations, in 2017, the government of Denmark saw the value of sending a tech ambassador to California—one Mr. Casper Klynge.¹

This is one facet of the new techno-diplomacy. In this case, it was an example of government-to-business (G2B) relations, given the influence that technology companies now have on the security of nation-states. On Mr. Klynge’s priority list: data privacy and data sovereignty issues, the proliferation of fake news and harmful content, AI ethics and rule-frameworks and R&D collaboration opportunities between Danish and American companies.

Regarding government-to-government (G2G) relations, adroit techno-diplomacy has now become a necessity for successful statecraft. More broadly, every self-respecting government should create a department of ‘digital affairs’ and staff it with people who speak the language of technology.

Traditional diplomats must receive back-to-school basic education in techno-nationalism and its impact on the affairs-of-state. Business leaders, meanwhile, need to understand about the paradigm shift that has changed the world and how their quarterly earnings statement may be affecting national security.

Techno-diplomacy, therefore, is the new realpolitik. It requires the use of enticements, partnerships, ...