Introducing BEYOND4.0, a project seeking the evidence on how the digital transformation is impacting our working lives
The first industrial revolution was powered by water and steam, the second by electricity to allow for mass production, the third began in the 1980s driven by the growth of IT technologies. The fourth supposed Industrial Revolution is happening right now and builds on the third by advancing the digital transformation further and blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological worlds. Of course, such radical transformation will deeply impact (and arguably is already impacting) our lives, especially with regards to the world of work. The project BEYOND4.0 (Inclusive Futures for Europe BEYOND the impacts of Industrie 4.0 and Digital Disruption) focuses on a range of possible consequences of the digital revolution, many of which are already being grappled with by policymakers and will have new resonance in the post-pandemic world. These include high unemployment, job and social polarisation, problematic skills development and populist politics. Possible solutions put forward to these pressing challenges include a Universal Basic Income and taxing companies that embrace more automation at the expense of workers. However, many of these solutions are not backed by concrete scientific evidence. BEYOND4.0 was organised to rectify this and aims to provide new scientific insight into technological transformation, how companies are dealing with this transformation and how this transformation is impacting the world of work, specifically on skill needs, education, training and value creation by companies. The project is specifically focusing on two main technological transformations – the digitisation of production through automation/robotics and the digitisation of work through the platform economy (or ‘Uberisation’). Through its research, BEYOND4.0 will offer concrete policy options on fiscal and welfare policy and identify social investment approaches and tools that can be wielded for inclusive growth. BEYOND4.0 began in January 2019 and will run through to December 2022 and has received almost EUR 3 million in funding through the Horizon 2020 programme.
Keywords
BEYOND4.0, work, automation, training, skills, digitisation, robotics, digital revolution
