Digital Humanism - Putting people at the centre of the digital transformation (CSA) -

Expected Outcome:

• Create an active network and cross disciplinary communities on digital humanism bringing together ICT experts, ethnologists, sociologists and experts in fundamental rights
• Help defining and strengthening EU’s approach to a human-centred digital transformation through cross-disciplinary, world class foundational and application oriented research
• Formulate approaches how to transform and strengthen European standards (rule of law, social market economy, fundamental rights, social standards and social partnership) into the digital realm including the take up of those standards by digital actors and in particular those developing new digital environment (e.g. data scientists, start-ups, investors)
• Formulate a list of recommendations and roadmaps to address current gaps or issues that are preventing the development of digital solutions that will reinforce - and not undermine - digital humanism across the society
• Propose a concrete framework for measuring and promoting progress of the promotion and putting into practice of the digital rights and principles declaration in the context of the Digital Decade policy programme. This will include concrete indicators, source of information at national and European level, as well as the identification of existing, and development of new, capacity tools to support the uptake of identified best practice uses of digital technologies in support of digital humanism. This work will notably feed the review of the Digital Decade Policy Programme and of the solemn declaration in 2026.

Scope:

A horizontal and holistic approach is needed for creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society, prepared and responsive to opportunities, societal changes, threats and disasters, addressing inequalities and providing protection and high-quality public services such as health care, and empowering all citizens to act in the green and digital transitions.

While digital technologies bring strong advantages coming along with a promise of freedom and innovation, negative aspects have also become visible in the last years. These include the monopolization of the information space, increasing levels of fake news and disinformation, strong power of online platforms, cyber threats and crimes, privacy breaches, strong market disparities as well as an economic order that claims human experience as free raw material for commercial practices of extraction, prediction and sales (Zuboff, 2019).

Digital Humanism is here defined as the continuing search for a European answer to keep up high civilization standards stemming from enlightenment and the humanist era, and to further develop them in the digital world. In line with European values, such a digital environment should enable all Europeans to make full use of digital and technologies, to have a society where geographical distance matters less, so that all Europeans can benefit from the digitalisation in their daily activities (ranging from work, learning, to enjoying culture or leisure activities) but also in their interactions with governments, and participation in democratic processes.

This requires intense, cross-disciplinary work of computer (and technology) sciences with legal, economic, sociological, philosophical and other kinds of expertise as a co-development exercise. To support in-depth, early-on collaboration between computer sciences and the whole wealth of humanities and social sciences to put new algorithms and models into a broader context, proposals under this topic should:

• Support the development of cross-disciplinary communities and networks in relation to digital transformation of society. It is thus critical to foster greater exchanges between social sciences and technological communities.
• Support the cross-disciplinary co-development of new theoretical models and approaches of the impact of digital technologies in our societies, starting with human and societal needs.
• Showcasing success stories and examples of engagement of the digital community seeking to develop concrete ways to progress toward a more human-centred digital world and draw concrete conclusions from these.
• Mapping out collaborative research to develop concrete tools and frameworks for ensuring that all actors of the European digital ecosystem (policy makers, business, startup developers, investors, NGOs) can integrate in their work and activities the values that form a human centred digital transformation and develop a roadmap for the possible development of research activities
• Develop a conceptual framework as well as tools and indicators to monitor and promote the progress of the ‘declaration on digital rights and principles’ and its six chapters (putting people at the centre of the digital transformation; solidarity and inclusion; freedom of choice; participation in the digital public space; safety, security and empowerment; sustainability), notably to feed the review of the Digital Decade Policy Programme and of the solemn declaration in 2026.

This project is also relevant in the policy context of the Digital Decade policy programme (“The Path to the Digital Decade”), which sets a European approach for its digital transformation based on values and technological leadership. For the first time, societal and human centred objectives are fully integrated into a comprehensive governance mechanism at EU level including monitoring of the progress made by the digital transformation in reaching our collective values and quantitative digital targets (skills, infrastructures, digitalisation of business and public services).

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