Many people know Daniel Korski as a political advisor who has supported some of the world’s most influential leaders, especially when it comes to digitisation initiatives. Today, Korski uses his technological insights to invest in promising businesses and help these ventures scale.
Here’s an overview of Korski’s multifaceted career and how his political background sets him apart as a tech entrepreneur.
Who Is Daniel Korski?
Korski is a veteran political expert who has supported governments all over the world. His international positions have seen him pave the way for change in London, Yemen, and Washington DC. He has also advised the pre-Taliban government in Afghanistan and oversaw the reconstruction of large parts of southern Iraq.
Korski has undertaken a secondment to the U.S. State Department under the then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He also worked on the front lines of the Libyan conflict and reported on this for The Spectator.
Working as a political reporter, he has also written for The Guardian, The New York Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and European Voice.
As deputy head, Korski oversaw the development of the British government’s cross-departmental Stabilisation Unit. He has also worked in the UK Parliament as a policy advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.
Furthermore, he was instrumental in creating the European Council on Foreign Relations, the largest pan-European think tank.
As a special advisor, he has supported the former Conservative Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell MP, the British member of the European Commission Catherine Ashton, and the former Prime Minister David Cameron.
While advising Ashton, he also participated in the Iran nuclear negotiations. Following this, when advising Cameron, he supported the prime minister through the EU referendum campaign and the European negotiations that led up to the vote.
Korski also advised Lord Paddy Ashdown during his tenure as the UN High Representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
How Has Daniel Korski’s Politics Career Fuelled His Tech Knowledge?
Korski became a technology expert during his broad political career, especially when playing a key role in Britain’s digitisation. When acting as the deputy head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, he was the chief architect behind the Digital Economy Act 2017. On top of this, he oversaw five impressive digital initiatives:
- The independent industry body for UK financial technologies: Innovate Finance.
- A cluster of high-tech companies in East London: TechCity.
- A network of the world’s most digitally advanced nations: The D5
- A Cabinet Office service that designs and protects the user experience of the digital government: The Government Digital Service (GDS).
- A 2014 event for promising digital companies that David Cameron hosted: Pitch 10.
How Does Daniel Korski Believe Tech Will Affect Britain’s Future?
Given that all government departments rely on technology, digitisation efforts like the above are essential to Britain’s future. However, these efforts need to shift as technology progresses.
Korski explains that technology affects all policy areas, including social media, cyber-attacks, the development of robots, and the tech-driven decline of some job roles. As a result, technology has the power to make the political space “increasingly complex.”
For example, technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) could complicate factors like reasoned debate, evidence, and truth — the factors that “good policy is based on.” That said, AI will likely unlock a wealth of benefits, from the creation of new jobs to the acceleration of disease diagnoses, which could save lives.
During his political career, Korski considered the political leaders of the time — Barack Obama, David Cameron, and Emmanuel Macron — to be “instinctively open-minded about technology and what it could do.”
However, he considers this time “an expansive golden era of digital development.” During this era, politicians and society “didn’t quite understand the dark aspects [of technology] that have now come to play themselves out.”
Given that technology is now developed enough to solve most physical challenges, the government will need to adapt its digitisation initiatives to weave technology into Britain’s “complex personal, social, political, religious settings.”
Korski explains that, in these settings, “people stand to lose or gain, whether it’s their jobs or their prestige.” As a minimum, people will “have to change how they work,” which may be “very difficult.”
Now, politicians must continue to leverage technology’s benefits while keeping its drawbacks at bay. Although managing this will be a challenge, “we’ve proven pretty resilient,” Korski says. Plus, “on the whole, technology has been an accelerant” of beneficial initiatives, programmes, products, and services.
What Is Daniel Korski Doing Now?
Korski has now stepped away from the world of politics to pursue technology-related entrepreneurial ventures. He acquires, develops, and sells start-ups that make a difference to the wider society with innovative technologies. With Korski’s funding and advice, each of these ventures is in a position to broaden their impact.
