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Joint Research Centre

Social implications of the digital transformation

The JRC investigates the social impacts of digital transformation on European societies and citizens. It delivers evidence-based policy support to ensure digital technologies align with human values and societal wellbeing.

Overview

Digital technologies are already reshaping how we live, work, and interact, and their long-term implications for individual wellbeing, social cohesion, and democratic values remain an open and urgent question.  

The JRC addresses this challenge by adopting a socio-technical perspective, examining the mutual shaping of technology and society. This means studying not only how digital technologies influence our lives, but also how human values, behaviours, and cultural and political contexts shape the design, development, and adoption of technology. 

By balancing regulatory and technical considerations with social evidence, we ensure that the human dimension remains central to EU digital policy. 

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What the JRC is doing

We structure our research around three interconnected areas:  

  • Emerging technologies and human agency

    Studying how emerging digital technologies affect European citizens, examining perception and adoption dynamics, and the role of human agency in decision-making within digital environments. This includes studying the use of artificial intelligence in educational contexts.

  • Digital wellbeing, trust, and society

    Exploring the risks and opportunities of digital transformation for individual and societal wellbeing, including digital wellbeing, trust, ethics, and misinformation, and examining the impact of digital legislation on different sectors, starting with education.

  • Digital skills and labour shortages

    Analysing the nature and size of the gap between digital skills supply and demand, identifying training needs related to emerging technologies such as AI and virtual worlds, and supporting the development of the DigComp framework, updated from version 2.2 to 3.0. This includes research on the digitalisation of vocational education and training (VET), digital competence of educators, and AI literacy for the workforce in support of the Apply AI Strategy.

Impact and results

The key actions and findings of our recent work are: 

  • Updated DigComp 3.0 Framework prioritising AI, misinformation, cybersecurity, digital rights and responsibilities, and digital wellbeing  
  • Provided evidence on digital skills gaps and training needs across sectors, including VET and virtual worlds
  • Conducted analysis of AI literacy needs for workers and AI skills requirements supporting the Apply AI Strategy 
  • Researched on the impact of digitalisation on education, including use of generative AI and EU digital legislation  
  • Delivered insights on digital wellbeing, cyberbullying, social media, and mental health impacts.