Middle powers in the platform economy: Digital sovereignty after the data pivot
TL;DR
It is argued that the central economic transformation is not simply digitization, but a deeper pivot from the production of goods and knowledge toward the valuation of data generated through those production processes, and that middle powers must develop the state as a platform.
Abstract
Abstract This article examines the future of the world economy from the standpoint of middle powers, with particular attention to Canada in the wake of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s renewed emphasis on middle-power coordination. It argues that the central economic transformation is not simply digitization, but a deeper pivot from the production of goods and knowledge toward the valuation of data generated through those production processes. Agriculture, manufacturing, health, education, logistics, and public administration are increasingly organized around data capture, platform intermediation, and AI-enabled recombination. This shift intensifies economies of scale, network effects, and economies of scope, thereby concentrating economic power in a small group of multinational technology firms. For middle powers, the resulting challenge is not to reject global platforms, but to avoid operational dependency on them. The article advances digital sovereignty as a framework based on control, interoperability, public-interest data governance, sovereign compute, and contestable digital markets. It concludes that middle powers must develop the state as a platform: a provider of trusted digital foundations that can sustain innovation, democratic accountability, and strategic autonomy in an increasingly platformized world economy.