The European Commission has issued two reports regarding green and digital transition. These reports were based on Horizon 2020 (H2020) research projects by social scientists to identify and address the identified shortcomings of these policies.
The first report specifically examines research gaps related to the human and social costs of the green transition. One of the identified shortcomings of current research on Green Transition is that it has focused more on businesses to transform the economy, but other actors (consumers, universities, and the cultural sector) were not adequately studied. There is also a significant body of research on more vulnerable groups, especially older workers. In a fast-changing economy, life-long learning is urgent to ensure future employability.
The main theme in the report is that the majority of social science covers the economic aspect of the green transition whereas there is not much research done in studying socio-cultural dimensions of it. For instance, local communities formerly centered around a single dominant industry are now tasked with adapting to the new green transition. This adaptation not only affects their ability to cope with changes in jobs but also impacts their cultural backgrounds and community identity. It is often overlooked that green transition is not just an economic challenge but can also be seen as a threat to people’s professional and regional identity. Future research should aim to understand the nature of the impact of job loss and changes beyond just the financial aspects of green transition. Since there is a lack of knowledge regarding labor market changes and their impact on culture and identity the report concludes that more humanities-based research should be conducted in that area.
The second report has a similar approach. It examines relevant research in social sciences regarding digital transition. The focus is on addressing essential questions to ensure informed and evidence-based science policy, guiding Europe’s digital transition. The analysis of research publications indicates a challenge for policymakers of preparing the economy and labor markets for the impacts of new digital technologies. These technologies have the potential to affect every aspect of society and the economy in unpredictable ways. To address this, research emphasizes the need to make labor markets resilient, adaptable, and quick to recover. The key issue in a rapidly changing society is the lack of expertise, knowledge, and infrastructure, impacting competitiveness and the ability to thrive in the emerging digital world. Much of the research underscores the importance of modernizing education, skills, and training sectors across countries and the EU.
The report also recommends the continuation of funding for the research around education, digital skills, soft skills, employability, entrepreneurship and creativity. This will be an inexplicable necessity to adapt to disruptive changes through digitalization. Entrepreneurship and creativity are the main soft skills for future success in the labor market. These insights are important, especially for disadvantaged social groups lacking digital skills (old workers).
Despite all research reports remain inconclusive regarding the consequences of digitalization stating:
“A debate that has been ongoing for almost a century is whether automation will lead to job loss, more leisure time, or something else. . So far, the category “something else” has been the answer, as people have moved from sector to sector as jobs are being automated (from farming to industry to service). A question is whether we have run out of sectors to move to as service jobs are also being automated. Considerably more research will be needed to unpick the likely outcomes to improve on the current best guess of “something else.”
Similarly, the majority of research on digital transition is economic based and there is a lack of sociocultural research. The social science insight about digitalization is again under-represented. Literature on human anxiety and fear of technological transformation is lacking. Ethics is also an important area that the EU could invest in to really ensure that digital transition and AI will work on a human-centered approach.
