Keeping the lights on usually ranks with national defence as a top priority for governments around the world. But recent discussions at key forums in the UK are triggering new thinking on the role of the state.

In a nutshell, the country’s top strategic think tanks have made one point clear over the past week: the ongoing digital transformation is too big to be left to the market.

For a hard-pressed government like that of the UK – which is caught in a budget crisis and is tens of billions of pounds short of its fiscal targets – this might seem too daunting to take onboard immediately. Yet the fast-evolving reality of digital transformation may not afford London the luxury of staying out. Indeed, the calls for a bigger and more direct role of the government are gaining prominence in the UK and beyond.

Globally, we are seeing a huge build-up in capacity around data processing. The most progressive states have responded to this agenda with a recognition that first-mover advantage is a huge prize. Moreover, the availability of energy is key to unlocking the biggest share of the digital build-up.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc’s managing director and group chief executive, on Monday said that he estimated the world needs $4 trillion invested annually in its grids and energy supplies. The push to make the energy-generation sector itself more “AI native” is only the starting point. The world’s top economies will need to come up with capital investment programmes on a scale not seen in history.

Adnoc calls for 'massive' investment in energy to fuel global data centres 02:00

For the UK, which became wedded to the idea of privatising its utilities and infrastructure as far back as the 1980s, being directly involved in the digital transformation project would represent a paradigm shift.