How involved should businesses be in regulation?
New research from a global law firm suggests that sentiment about the extent to which executives should be involved in the regulation of technology varies from region to region.

Forbes Insights and Clifford Chance have released a report – “Ready, Steady, Grow: Building a sustainable tech strategy for the next decade” – which surveyed 300 senior business executives about their approach and attitude toward AI, ethics, tech regulation and data privacy.
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In it, the firms explored how executives feel about the involvement of business in regulation. It found differences between the APAC, European and US regions.
On the question of whether business has struck the right balance in terms of its involvement in technology regulation, 37 per cent of those in APAC, 37 per cent of those in Europe and 39 per cent in the US said “yes”.
When asked if business should stay away from technology regulation, the numbers varied further, with 36 per cent in APAC saying “yes” compared to 28 per cent in Europe and 22 per cent in the US.
Conversely, 39 per cent in the US say businesses should become more involved in regulating technology as opposed to 35 per cent in Europe and 27 per cent in APAC.
In the US, the hope is that with business involvement, regulations, once enacted, will better answer the needs of businesses and also protect society in the future.
“A good company should not only try to comply with the regulations we have today, but really think about what the regulations should be and what could go wrong with technology,” said Quest Diagnostics former chairman and CEO Surya Mohapatra on the report.
“It’s essential for businesses to be involved in regulation, and not only because they need to shape it in a way that’s beneficial to them, but because any regulation that comes out is only as good as how effectively it can be implemented,” added Clifford Chance technology partner Megan Gordon.