Sustainable Economies in the Era of Digitalisation – SEED

The project combines different data sources: Web of Science, OpenAlex, and Tweets and YouTube comments. These data are analyzed through sentiment analysis and standard econometric techniques.

Methodological toolkit (i.e., codes and documentation) will be openly accessible from GitHub repositories.

Results will be disclosed at the end of the project. In general, our grand challenge is to understand the complex interlinkages between digitalisation and sustainable development; the contextual factors that can maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of the digital transformation; and the role played by different actors in the economic, political and social systems. The project will bring these elements together into a single, frontier conceptual framework in which technology mutually interacts with the sustainability paradigm, and public opinion and institutions work as mediators of these relationships. This framework will guide empirical work, made possible and enriched through new data and indicators of the digital ecosystem, digital-SDGs interrelationships, policies and public opinion on the convergence of digitalisation and sustainability.

We have identified five main scientific challenges, corresponding to five main objectives, aligned with the ANR 2022 action plan (see two priority areas: Artificial Intelligence and SSH) and the 4th investments for the future programme (PIA4: “La mobilisation de la science pour metre en œuvre l’agenda 2030 des ODD est un enjeu majeur de la recherche et de l’innovation pour la prochaine décennie, notamment pour impulser des transitions numériques, énergétiques, sociales et écologiques cohérentes” p.6):
1. Mapping the interlinkages between digital transformation and the SDGs in research and innovation, policy actions and recommendations, and public opinion;
2. Assessing the contribution – i.e., enabling, neutral, or inhibiting – of digital transformation on the achievement of the SDGs and the targets therein;
3. Exploring public opinion and perceptions, misconceptions, and fake-news on the convergence of digital transformation and sustainable development;
4. Assessing the mediating role of institutions with respect to 2. and 3.;
5. Developing a data platform and methodological toolkit to help stakeholders monitor progress toward the SDGs and what technological and policy solutions can be brought into play to align sustainable development with the ongoing digital transformation.

Peer-reviewed articles:

Abbonato, D., Bianchini, S., Gargiulo, F. & Venturini Tommaso (2024). Interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence: Lessons from COVID-19. Quantitative Science Studies (forthcoming).

Bianchini, S., Damioli, G. & Ghisetti, C. (2024). The emergence of a ‘twin’ transition scientific knowledge base in European regions. Regional Studies, 1-17. doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2024.2355998

Bianchini, S., Damioli, G. & Ghisetti, C. (2023). The environmental effects of the ‘twin’ green and digital transition in European regions. Environmental and Resource Economics 84, 877–918. doi.org/10.1007/s10640-022-00741-7

Bianchini, S., Moritz M., & Pelletier, P. (2022). Artificial intelligence in science: An emerging general method of invention. Research Policy, 51(10), 104604.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733322001275


Policy briefs:

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Arranz, D., Bianchini, S., Di Girolamo, V. et al., Trends in the use of AI in science – A bibliometric analysis, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023. data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/418191

Bianchini, S., Bottero, P., Colagrossi, M., Damioli, G., Ghisetti, C. and Michoud, K., Mapping the Scientific Base for SDGs and Digital Technologies, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023. publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC133613

Bianchini, S., Bottero, P., Colagrossi, M., Damioli, G., Ghisetti, C. and Michoud, K., Sustainable Development Goals and Digital Technologies: Mapping Scientific Research, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023. policycommons.net/artifacts/4374394/sustainable-development-goals-and-digital-technologies/5170873/

Unlike past technological revolutions, digital transformation comes at a time of profound interdependent changes including global warming, migration, an aging population, and new geopolitical tensions. It will cause great stress on our economic, social and political systems, creating some preconditions for sustainability, but undermining others. This project aims to understand the interlinkages between digitalisation and sustainable development, and the contextual factors that can maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of the digital transformation. First, we will develop a conceptual and analytical framework in which technology mutually interacts with the sustainability paradigm, operationalised through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework proposed by the United Nations, and public opinion and institutions act as mediators of these relationships. Our framework will guide the empirical work, made possible by new data and indicators of the digital ecosystem and its convergence with sustainable development. Data and indicators will come from a variety of sources, including scholarly literature, patents, policy documents, social media and online video-sharing platforms. Second, we will disentangle and quantify the positive and negative causal impacts of digital transformation on the achievement of the SDGs. Third, we will examine the mediating role of institutions in promoting the impact of digitalisation on the SDGs, on the one hand, and reducing the risk of fake-news and misconceptions against science, on the other. The project will provide us with a clear understanding of how science, policy and the public can harness the power of digital technologies to bring peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future.