US ranks first in public distrust of innovation just before Davos – Edelman By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo is painted at the Congress Center ahead of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 13, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo

Megan Davis

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Businesses and governments are doing a poor job of managing and regulating new technologies, according to a survey of people ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week.

An Edelman survey released as the WEF conference kicked off with the theme “Rebuilding Trust” found that 39% of respondents asked whether they trust companies and NGOs to introduce and regulate innovation and that the governments that regulate it are poorly managed. I did. Only 22% said they were well managed.

Nonetheless, business was the most trusted category to integrate innovation into society, ahead of NGOs, governments and the media.

Among the countries surveyed by the public relations firm, the United States had the highest distrust in innovation management, with 56% saying innovation was poorly managed and 14% saying it was well managed. This survey was conducted on 32,000 people in 28 countries during the month of November.

The report said examples of backlash against technology include China’s withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in July 2022 after online backlash, the U.S. Republican Party’s stance on electric vehicles, and Hollywood writers’ opposition to the use of artificial intelligence in script writing. He said there was a fight, etc.

Resistance to innovation is political, with greater resistance among those on the political right in the United States, Australia, Germany and Canada, the survey found.

The survey found that businesses are most trusted to introduce innovations into society, ahead of non-governmental organizations, governments and the media.

“Innovation is accelerating and must enable growth, but if companies do not pay as much attention to adoption as to research and development, innovation will suffer,” Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said in a statement.

The report also found that the UK ranked last on Edelman’s Trust Index, which measures the average level of trust in NGOs, businesses, government and the media, at 39%.