TRANSFORMATION TILT

“The new normal” is embraced as a description of humanity’s adaptive response to the challenge of COVID-19, even as it is resisted as a misplaced answer to the imperatives of pandemicinduced disruption, or rejected as a misnomer for what it is hoped will be “a temporary abnormal” – vaccine pending.

The TMT sector is accustomed to thinking about and enabling the changes now being realised and adopted en masse across broader society. There is a discernible tilt in favour of digital transformation, dictated by circumstance, and heightened awareness of people’s reliance on digital platforms, markets and devices. As well as affirming the power of connectivity and exposing the digital divide, this renews questions around governance. In this issue of InterMedia, Richard Feasey examines what might be drawn from thirty years’ experience in telecommunications regulation to inform the application of ex ante regulation in digital markets, Peter Lovelock explores the issues impacting artificial intelligence adoption in the Asia-Pacific region and Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross confront the lack of support for parents at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution. In addition to the launch of a new podcast series, the IIC convened a series of webinars on the theme of “regulation in times of pandemic” on topics of competition, 5G, misinformation, cybersecurity, privacy and sector strategies, among others. These demonstrate that any so-called “new normal” is dynamic and evolving and I encourage you to engage with the IIC platform to be part of the global response at this extraordinary time. Chris Chapman, president, IIC