Digitalization is seen as one of Europe’s greatest societal challenges, as well as a positive opportunity for societal change. Digitalization is transforming many aspects of our everyday lives, including our privacy, access to information, to democracy, to social inclusiveness or exclusion. It also influences our global economy, business landscape, international law and the regulation of competition in digital markets. The digital transformation involves and impacts our society, and poses questions for the future, for example, of education, the development of skills and competencies, and life-long learning.
For many of the societal challenges related to the SDGs, digitalization is seen as an enabler of positive change. However, the social impacts and environmental sustainability of the underlying technologies themselves may actually undermine the gains made.
This theme can benefit from an interdisciplinary approach, where researchers can cross traditional boundaries to address this societal challenge