Nowadays there is a recurring buzzword: Digital Transformation (DX or DT) – it is an opportunity or a nightmare? The pandemic strengthened this trend, digital transformation will help to mitigate the effects of the crisis, improve resilience. “Resilience”, by the way, another recurring term in the pandemic time. We all agree on the meaning of the term “transformation” but “Digital” has different meanings. A comprehensive definition of the term Digital transformation should be the integration of digital technology into all areas of activity, from business to public sector, fundamentally changing how we operate and deliver value to customers or citizens. Every area of our life is "touched" by digital transformation. Its impact is dramatically changing life dynamics. The decisions we make entering the digital transformation are an important part of our future existence. Consideration of the consequences is required. We have to think about what decisions we take in a digital transformation and to try to predict the butterfly effect of them trying to provide the right ethical basis to protect humanity from ourselves. The diffusion of platforms if on one side creates new opportunities on the other side “kills” a number of existent businesses. The access to global service platforms creates a shortcut between offer and demand cutting out major part of the traditional added value chain. You don’t need to invest relevant capitals to feed your business, the key investment is the creation of the digital platform, the asset you own is the number of users both on the offer and demand side. Following the schema of some of the recent revolutions the idea was: digital technology is disruptive cancelling a number of businesses, but new businesses will be created, the key point is that the specific nature of digital technology is actually creating less positions than the one eliminated. In general, to improve our life with technological development, enhancing and visualising communication, services, and processes, as well as stimulating creativity. New skills are developing, new professions are emerging, and others are disappearing, but there is another side - the effect of alienation. Significant changes and challenges are immersed in education as well. The decisions we make now will be visible in decades. Transformations in education build new environments and methods of teaching and learning. All this is done in the name of improving access to education, personalized and secure training to build more business-ready citizenship. The outcome in the field of urban settlements will be a new kind of resilient city, completely different than what we have seen before. It means more big data, more cyber risks and attack and more investment on smart cities and emerging technologies such as IoT, AI and blockchain. It needs more expertise sessions to find practical solutions instead of theorical for the negative impact of digital transitions on society and economy and make a roadmap, action plan and RM for that. We must keep humans in the loop and carefully consider the social and economic impact due to digital transition. Panellists Identified some concrete actionable items based on on-line webinars and courses (e.g. ITU Academy) that will directly involve them: a) Improving Awareness & promoting Capacity Building Actions; b) Fostering a Culture of Cybersecurity. Starting from the actual interdisciplinary team it will be opened a call for participation to establish an Interdisciplinary team analysing mid & long-term impacts of DT. On the occasion of the panel Valmiki Mukherjee, Chairman of Cyber Future Foundation announced the initiative started for Cyber Peace Goals, and the alignment of the Cyber Peace Goals with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The impact of digital transitions on society and economy

Alfredo Ronchi
2021-01-01

Abstract

Nowadays there is a recurring buzzword: Digital Transformation (DX or DT) – it is an opportunity or a nightmare? The pandemic strengthened this trend, digital transformation will help to mitigate the effects of the crisis, improve resilience. “Resilience”, by the way, another recurring term in the pandemic time. We all agree on the meaning of the term “transformation” but “Digital” has different meanings. A comprehensive definition of the term Digital transformation should be the integration of digital technology into all areas of activity, from business to public sector, fundamentally changing how we operate and deliver value to customers or citizens. Every area of our life is "touched" by digital transformation. Its impact is dramatically changing life dynamics. The decisions we make entering the digital transformation are an important part of our future existence. Consideration of the consequences is required. We have to think about what decisions we take in a digital transformation and to try to predict the butterfly effect of them trying to provide the right ethical basis to protect humanity from ourselves. The diffusion of platforms if on one side creates new opportunities on the other side “kills” a number of existent businesses. The access to global service platforms creates a shortcut between offer and demand cutting out major part of the traditional added value chain. You don’t need to invest relevant capitals to feed your business, the key investment is the creation of the digital platform, the asset you own is the number of users both on the offer and demand side. Following the schema of some of the recent revolutions the idea was: digital technology is disruptive cancelling a number of businesses, but new businesses will be created, the key point is that the specific nature of digital technology is actually creating less positions than the one eliminated. In general, to improve our life with technological development, enhancing and visualising communication, services, and processes, as well as stimulating creativity. New skills are developing, new professions are emerging, and others are disappearing, but there is another side - the effect of alienation. Significant changes and challenges are immersed in education as well. The decisions we make now will be visible in decades. Transformations in education build new environments and methods of teaching and learning. All this is done in the name of improving access to education, personalized and secure training to build more business-ready citizenship. The outcome in the field of urban settlements will be a new kind of resilient city, completely different than what we have seen before. It means more big data, more cyber risks and attack and more investment on smart cities and emerging technologies such as IoT, AI and blockchain. It needs more expertise sessions to find practical solutions instead of theorical for the negative impact of digital transitions on society and economy and make a roadmap, action plan and RM for that. We must keep humans in the loop and carefully consider the social and economic impact due to digital transition. Panellists Identified some concrete actionable items based on on-line webinars and courses (e.g. ITU Academy) that will directly involve them: a) Improving Awareness & promoting Capacity Building Actions; b) Fostering a Culture of Cybersecurity. Starting from the actual interdisciplinary team it will be opened a call for participation to establish an Interdisciplinary team analysing mid & long-term impacts of DT. On the occasion of the panel Valmiki Mukherjee, Chairman of Cyber Future Foundation announced the initiative started for Cyber Peace Goals, and the alignment of the Cyber Peace Goals with the Sustainable Development Goals.
2021
WSIS Forum 2021 Outcome Document
978-92-61-25151-2
Economic issues
Social issues
COVID 19
Digital Transition
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1206890
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