Datafied Democracies & AI Economics Unplugged

This book explores how AI Economics, innovation systems and policies, data cooperatives, and data sovereignty are redefining democracy, governance, and economic life in datafied societies. Through global case studies, it examines how smart cities, generative AI (GenAI), and decentralization shape the emergence of datafied democracies, network states, and algorithmic nations. It asks whether these transformations can foster anticipatory governance and democratic renewal, or instead reinforce inequality and technocratic control.

Engaging with themes such as technopolitics, digital sovereignty, and post-Westphalian forms of governance, the book bridges political economy, urban studies, and innovation policy to illuminate the evolving relationship between power, technology, and democracy. Without being utopian or dystopian, it advances a civic and institutional framework for aligning technological disruption with digital inclusion strategies. Offering policymakers, researchers, and civic leaders an integrated roadmap, it outlines how citizens, institutions, and AI systems in smart cities and network states can share responsibility for shaping more inclusive, accountable, and innovative digital futures.

Prof. Dr. Igor Calzada, MBA, FeRSA is an accredited Full Professor in Interdisciplinary AI Economics and Innovation Systems & Policies (ANECA), in Social Sciences and Humanities (UNIBASQ), and an Established Researcher (R3 by the Spanish State Innovation Agency). He currently serves as Principal Investigator in the Department of Public Policy & Economic History, Faculty of Economics at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and is part of the Scientific Excellency Governmental Programme managed by the Basque Foundation for Science (Ikerbasque), contributing to the Social and Legal Sciences Applied to New TechnoSciences Research Group in Spain. He is a Principal Research Fellow at Cardiff University/WISERD and a Fulbright Scholar in California (USA), Fellow at the Decentralization Research Center (Canada), Regional Studies Association (UK), and Future Government Institute (Australia).

Between 2012 and 2022, Calzada held senior positions at the University of Oxford, Future of Cities and ESRC Urban Transformations programs, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (AI Watch Observatory), and UN-Habitat (People-Centered Smart Cities). He has taught and researched at over 20 universities in the UK (Oxford, Cardiff, Strathclyde, and Aston), USA (Stanford, Georgetown, MIT, Reno, and Bakersfield), Belgium (Vrije), Ireland (Galway), Sweden (Malmö), Denmark (Kaos Pilot), Finland (Helsinki), Italy (JRC and Verona), Spain (EHU, Mondragon, and Deusto), Poland (SGH Warsaw), and Hungary (BME Budapest). Earlier in his career, he worked for a decade (2002-2012) in the largest industrial cooperative group, Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, based in the Basque Country, and served as Director of Innovation, Research, & Technology in the Basque Government. He is and Editor of 15 journals, including Data & Policy, Smart Cities, AI, TGPPP, Frontiers in Blockchain, and others.

His interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersection of AI Economics, Innovation Systems & Policies, Political Economy, Regional Studies, Digital Citizenship, Web3 Decentralization, and Urban AI, with particular attention to smart cities, data-opolies, Web3, and data cooperatives. He has published extensively on digital citizenship, the future of cities, and urban transformations, and his work has been widely cited (5,350 citations; h-index 33; i10-index 70). Recognized by Apolitical as one of the “100 Most Influential Academics in Government,” Calzada is currently leading global action research projects on Gen/UrbanAI, Web3 decentralization, and digital sovereignty funded by prestigious funding institutions such as the US-UK Fulbright Commission, ESRC, European Commission (H2020 and Horizon Europe), Astera Institute, and regional governments worldwide. He regularly serves as Evaluation Chair of the European Commission’s Research Evaluation Agency (REA).

He is the author of 75 peer-reviewed journal articles, 25 book chapters, and 16 books, including The Smart City Transformations (Bloomsbury, 2017), Smart City Citizenship (Elsevier, 2021), Emerging Digital Citizenship Regimes (Emerald, 2022), and forthcoming volumes with Springer Nature entitled Datafied Democracies & AI Economics Unplugged (2025), Edward Elgar entitled Understanding AI Economics: Innovation, Public Policy, & Digital Citizenship (2026), and Routledge entitled Benchmarking City-Regions (2026).