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H2020Staff exchange2020–2025

PRODIGEES · Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe towards Sustainable Development

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2020-01-01 → 2025-06-30
EU contribution
€749,800
Participants
10
Scheme
MSCA-RISE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe towards Sustainable Development

The PRODIGEES project (Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe Towards Sustainable Development) addressed a key challenge of our time: understanding how digitalisation can support — or undermine — the global pursuit of sustainable development. Digitalisation affects nearly every sector of society, influencing economic, social, environmental, and political processes. These transformations carry both opportunities and risks — from AI and digital governance to the digital economy’s impact on inequality and climate change. Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA-RISE), PRODIGEES built a global research network of ten leading institutions across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It fostered long-term partnerships to understand how digitalisation can help achieve the UN 2030 Agenda while mitigating negative effects. The project’s objectives were to: • Deepen understanding of digitalisation’s impacts on governance, society, economy, and environment. • Promote policies and technologies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). • Strengthen researcher careers through international exchanges. • Advance public awareness through open-access trainings, digital knowledge products, and science communication. • Enhance cooperation and knowledge-sharing between Europe and emerging powers. • Reinforce the EU’s position as a hub for science, innovation, and standard-setting. Despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the project successfully engaged academia, policymakers, and civil society in shaping digital transformation towards more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable futures. PRODIGEES leaves behind stronger international partnerships, a robust body of research, and practical guidance for those working at the intersection of digitalisation and sustainable development.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Investments on digitalisation affect personal, political, societal, environmental and economic processes across the globe and have enormous potential to radically change almost all sectors in the coming decades, from agriculture to industry and finance, from education to health, democracy and human rights. They will also influence the success of the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Digitalisation is being promoted heavily with limited reflection on potential negative impacts and consumer protection. Internet based services render the service systems even opaquer for consumers, and are prone to technical failure and cybercrime with irreversible damages for individuals and societies.PRODIGEES (Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe towards Sustainable Development) promotes international collaboration and sharing of knowledge on (global) governance and the conditions to shape digitalisation towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda. The major objective of the project is to generate a better understanding of digital transformation processes and exponential technologies and their impact on sustainable development in different world regions and shape technology at an early stage of development (Collingridge 1980) . With the aim to exploit complementary competences and combine various disciplines and perspectives, PRODIGEES focuses on the exchange of ideas between academic institutions that deal with sustainability and digitalisation questions in the European Union (Italy, Germany) on the one hand, and emerging powers from the Global South (Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa) on the other. In this way, the project allows for sharing and comparing experiences from countries that are of greatest importance for the achievement of the SDGs, and for successful global governance in the digital age.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • DEUTSCHES INSTITUT FUR ENTWICKLUNGUND NACHHALTIGKEIT GEMEINNUTZIGE GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG · BONNCoordinatorGermany
  • FUNDACAO GETULIO VARGAS · Rio De JaneiroBrazil
  • INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES DR JOSE MARIA LUIS MORA · Distrito FederalMexico
  • ISTITUTO AFFARI INTERNAZIONALI · ROMAItaly
  • LUISS LIBERA UNIVERSITA INTERNAZIONALE DEGLI STUDI SOCIALI GUIDO CARLI · RomaItaly
  • OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN · WienAustria
  • RESEARCH AND INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES · New DelhiIndia
  • STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY · StellenboschSouth Africa
  • UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG · HamburgGermany
  • YAYASAN PUSAT PENGKAJIAN MALASAH STRATEGI DAN INTERNASIONAL INDONESIA · JakartaIndonesia

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union