Events

For several years, the research group has been studying the question of how digitization must be designed as a social process to ensure that it contributes to the transformation toward sustainability. Through interdisciplinary analyses, it was possible to develop practice-oriented solutions. The results of this work were presented publicly at the final conference and discussed with academia, policymakers and civil society.

Existing analyses demonstrate that current forms of digitization increase resource demands and intensify social inequalities. There is consequently an urgent need for action by civil society, scientists and policymakers in a concerted manner, including strong regulatory frameworks, to harness the sustainability benefits of digitization and to incorporate such demands into ongoing policy processes at national and EU level.

The Bits & Bäume Forum connects to the largest conference to date on the topics of digitization and sustainability, which took place in Berlin in November 2018. The series of events is a forum for networking politics, applied science and civil society from the tech and sustainability community and aims to develop proposals for taking action on how digitization can be made sustainable in the future.

Answering the central question "What can digitization contribute to the sustainable transformation of society?", the junior research group, in cooperation with a broad network of civil society and academic stakeholders, held a public networking conference at the Technische Universität Berlin on November 17 and 18, 2018.