David Eaves studies, builds, and writes about how governments work in the digital age. He is an Associate Professor of Digital Government and Co-Deputy Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) at University College London, where he teaches and researches digital public infrastructure, digital-era public administration, service delivery, and policy making.

Much of his work sits at the seam between academia and practice. At IIPP he created the DPI Map, the first global effort to measure the spread of digital identity, payments, and data-exchange systems across more than 200 countries, and leads the annual State of Digital Public Infrastructure report. With colleagues including Mariana Mazzucato and Diane Coyle, he has developed frameworks for understanding the economics and public value of shared digital infrastructure — work that has informed engagement with the World Bank, the UK Treasury, the G20, and national governments. He writes regularly for Foreign Policy, Lawfare, Tech Policy Press, Project Syndicate, and The Economist on digital government, DPI, and the governance of artificial intelligence. A library of his writing lives here.

Advising and service

Alongside his research, David serves on boards and advisory bodies and works directly with governments around the world. He has worked with national governments including those of Canada, Greece, and Brazil, and has briefed senior policymakers from Canada’s deputy ministers to the finance ministers of the Eurogroup. He served on the UK government’s digital expert advisory committee and sits on the investment committee of Co-Develop. He serves on the boards of the Coleridge Initiative and Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age. David also advises a few startups, often started by former students and colleagues.

Before UCL

From 2016 to 2022, David was a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught on digital government and digital transformation. He co-founded Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age, a free, open curriculum now used by educators around the world, and wrote widely taught case studies on systems like India’s Aadhaar and the UK’s Government Digital Service. Working with Mike Bracken and others, David also convened national digital service teams from dozens of governments in the annual State of Digital Transformation gatherings.

Earlier work

Before turning to digital government, David was an early and influential voice in the open data and open government movements. As an adviser to the Mayor of Vancouver in 2009 he helped draft the city’s Open Motion, then went on to advise governments at the local, national, and international level; he co-founded International Open Data Day. In 2018 he was named one of Apolitical’s World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government.

He also spent years as a negotiation adviser, helping companies, non-profits, and advocacy groups through high-stakes negotiations — most notably as an adviser to the environmental coalition behind the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, and later training Greenpeace International’s climate campaigners across three continents.

Building things

David was a co-founder and CEO of ReCollect Systems, a software company that sought to help both governments and the environment. ReCollect grew to help hundreds of municipalities give residents better information about their waste and recycling services and ensure less waste went to landfills. ReCollect was acquired by Routeware, where it continues today — an experience David remembers above all for the people he got to build it with. He has since reunited with two of his ReCollect co-founders at Regroup Labs, a seed-stage investment company that backs a small number of early-stage founders and works closely with them.

Background

David completed a BA in History at Queen’s University and a Master’s in International Relations at the University of Oxford. He is a former Sauvé Scholar and an Action Canada Fellow. He lives in London, UK, with his family.

You can reach David at david@eaves.ca, follow him on LinkedIn and Bluesky, or get in touch — including about speaking.