Digital trade
Hinrich Foundation Digital Trade Research Project
Published 04 February 2019
At the Hinrich Foundation, we consider open digital trade to be a growth opportunity for countries as well as an enabler of major productivity improvements for sectors beyond the digital sector. However, we identified that policymakers, businesses and other stakeholders needed more information to have a robust discussion about ways to harness the benefits and manage potential risks related to digital trade.
The digital economy and the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution hold enormous promise for countries’ future prosperity. As economies rely increasingly on digital goods and services, regulatory frameworks and trade policies must be updated to meet the needs of the digital economy.
Together with local business community groups, we commissioned AlphaBeta to size the value of the digital trade opportunity (both for exports and the domestic economy) and to assess risks for eight economies in the Asia-Pacific – Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.
Our objectives for this research project included:
- Sizing the value of the digital trade opportunity for exports and the domestic economy
- Measuring the opportunity cost of having a closed digital policy
- Identifying the risks of an open digital policy and ways to address them
- Recommending key policy actions for helping economies harness the benefits and manage potential risks
The Data Revolution: Capturing the Digital Trade Opportunity at Home and Abroad summarizes the findings of the eight Asia-Pacific country reports.
This report was prepared by the Hinrich Foundation with analytical support from AlphaBeta.
Explore findings for each economy
Read an in-depth analysis for each economy by clicking the country names below.
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Australia |  |
Malaysia | |
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China |  |
Philippines | |
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India |  |
Vietnam | |
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Indonesia |  |
Japan |
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Additional resources
In the news
Coverage of our Digital Trade Research Project findings
Benefits from digital trade may grow 14-fold to $512 billion by 2030
Hinrich Foundation's India Digital Trade report evaluates the benefits of digital trade to the domestic economy of India.
Huge digital trade opportunity for India by 2030
Hinrich Foundation's India digital trade report, launched event in New Delhi on July 25, 2019, was featured in the government-affiliated website.
Digital trade holds important promises for growth in Asia: Berenice Voets, Hinrich Foundation
Hinrich Foundation Director of Public Affairs and Communication Berenice Voets gave insights on India's Digital Trade report.
Free flow of cross-border data can boost India’s digital export to $200 billion: Report
Findings from the India Digital Trade report revealed in an event launch in New Delhi on July 25, 2019.
Digital trade set to grow 14 times by 2030: Study
Coverage about findings from the India Digital Trade report and how restricting cross-border data flow will hurt digital trade.
Philippines tipped to reap benefits of digital trade
Stephen Olson discusses the Philippine digital trade industry and how it should invest more in information and communications technology to fully tap into the potential of digital trade.
With opening up, data emerges as a challenge
Coverage about Hinrich Foundation's China Digital Trade report, which launched in Beijing, China, on March 21, 2019.
Australia Boosts International Talks on Digital Trade
Coverage about Hinrich Foundation's Australia Digital Trade report, titled “From Resource Boom to Digital Boom: Capturing Australia’s digital trade opportunity at home and abroad”.
Past events
Read about the launches of our country reports across the Asia-Pacific region
Digital reports by country
