Help wanted: Regulators worldwide need tech expertise

As economies continue to digitize, governments say they need more technological expertise to evaluate companies and technology, as well as detect problems.

Competition and consumer agencies in governments worldwide say they need to integrate more tech expertise into their enforcement work to detect consumer harms, reduce information asymmetries and conduct better and faster investigations. 

The Federal Trade Commission released a joint statement with 24 international partners about the importance of tech capacity in enforcement and regulatory agencies on Tuesday. As economies continue to digitize, governments need more technological expertise to evaluate companies and technology, as well as detect problems, the statement says. 

In Washington, D.C., several government agencies also made accompanying commitments and statements about their technology work and teams.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released new goals to embed more technologies across its core functions and do research on emerging technologies.

"From cracking down on data abuses and ...