Turning risk perception into policy action: supporting more resilient policymaking in Southeast Asia

A Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy (CIIP) project using data from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll has helped policymakers and practitioners in Southeast Asia explore how public perceptions of risk can inform more responsive approaches to digital, labour and industrial policy.

The project Policymaking for a more resilient world translated perception-based evidence into practical insights across four policy areas: artificial intelligence, digital trade, industrial policy and workplace safety. Funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and delivered in collaboration with UNIDO’s regional office in Jakarta, the project combined data analysis, policy review, stakeholder consultation and regional engagement to support more inclusive and resilient policymaking in Southeast Asia and beyond.

The Challenge

Policymakers in Southeast Asia face growing pressure to respond to risks that cut across multiple policy areas. Some are long-standing, such as unsafe working conditions and industrial accidents. Others are newer, including concerns about artificial intelligence, misuse of personal data, cyber insecurity and vulnerabilities in highly interconnected supply chains. These risks often overlap, shaping how people, businesses and governments experience uncertainty and respond to shocks. Despite growing volumes of data on risk, many existing sources do not capture how these risks are perceived and experienced in practice.

This creates a practical challenge for policymakers. Risk governance typically relies on administrative, economic and institutional data. However, these sources do not always reveal how risks are perceived and experienced. Without evidence on how people experience risk, it can be difficult to identify where safeguards are not reaching people, or where formal policy frameworks are misaligned with public concern.

The Approach

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll offers globally comparable data on people’s lived experience of risk. CIIP sought to demonstrate how this perception-based evidence could be translated into practical policy insight. Rather than treating risk as a narrow technical matter, the project approached risk as a cross-cutting policy issue affecting digital systems, labour markets, industrial structures and public trust.

The project focused on four policy areas, producing a policy brief for each:

• Artificial intelligence: Examining public attitudes towards AI in Southeast Asia, highlighting cautious perceptions, gender differences in optimism, concerns about data security, and the importance of responsible and inclusive governance.
• Digital trade: Exploring how concerns about data privacy, cybersecurity and personal data use are shaping policy choices around digital trade, cross-border data flows and digital sovereignty.
• Industrial policy: Analysing the relationship between manufacturing capability and resilience, showing how stronger industrial systems can support access to essential goods, crisis response and economic recovery.
• Workplace safety: Identifying gaps in occupational safety and health training, reporting systems and gender-responsive approaches, underlining the need to strengthen workplace safety as part of wider resilience-building.

The team also reviewed national and regional policy frameworks to identify gaps between people’s concerns and existing policy responses. These included gaps in regulation, implementation, enforcement, coordination, inclusion and trust. This enabled the project to move from diagnosis towards practical recommendations.

Stakeholder engagement was central to the approach. Consultations with 30 policymakers and experts across Southeast Asia helped validate the analysis, refine recommendations and ensure they reflected regional priorities and implementation challenges. Collaboration with UNIDO’s Jakarta office further strengthened stakeholder engagement and broadened the project’s regional reach.

“Today’s event was an important milestone in connecting the dots between technology, industrial policy, and the human beings working in all of those areas. It was rewarding to hear good evidence-based research and bring different perspectives to this timely conversation.”

Workshop participant, Jakarta

To maximise the accessibility of the findings, the project also developed a range of communications outputs, including policy blogs, infographics and explainer videos. These resources were designed to help policymakers, practitioners and researchers engage with the evidence in formats suited to different audiences and purposes.

The Impact

The project demonstrated how perception-based data can inform real policy choices. CIIP showed how public concerns can reveal institutional gaps, challenge assumptions and support more inclusive approaches to risk governance.

• Regional dialogue: A workshop held in Jakarta, organised in collaboration with UNIDO, brought together 80 regional policymakers, industry leaders, academics and international organisations to discuss the project’s findings and their implications. A second workshop in Singapore, hosted by the Institute for
  the Public Understanding of Risk at the National University of Singapore, focused on AI and digital trade policy, bringing together representatives from ASEAN, government ministries and regional stakeholders.
• Wider dissemination: Blogs, infographics, explainer videos, LinkedIn activity and partner networks amplified the resources across Southeast Asia and beyond, while a virtual launch event and a subsequent policy dialogue at King’s College London connected the findings to wider international debates on AI governance and digital trade.

Together, these activities created multiple opportunities for dialogue, knowledge exchange and practical application. More broadly, the project demonstrated how risk perception data can be translated into actionable policy insights, enabling governments and institutions to develop more responsive policies that better reflect people’s experiences of risk and ultimately contribute to safer societies.

“A key contribution of this project was its focus on translating evidence into action. It showed how perception-based data can help governments design more responsive, inclusive and resilient approaches to emerging challenges.”

Dr Jennifer Castañeda-Navarrete, Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy

Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy helps governments and public organisations build the skills needed to design effective, future-ready industrial and innovation strategies. Our training courses combine cutting-edge research from the University of Cambridge with practical tools, international case studies, and real-world policy experience. Designed for policymakers, civil servants, and industry leaders, our programmes support evidence-based decision-making, helping investments in science, technology, and innovation deliver tangible economic, social, and environmental impact.