ZEW Participates in Research Network on Digitalisation

The ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim is part of a new research alliance aiming to conduct interdisciplinary research into the influence of digitalisation on individuals and society. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts will be funding the “Society in Digital Transition” project with around 2.2 million euros for a period of three years.

The research alliance counts eight university and non-university institutions from Baden-Württemberg and is headed by the University of Mannheim. Besides ZEW, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), the University of Tübingen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM), GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and the Institute for the German Language (IDS) are part of the alliance. The plan is to identify and analyse the influence of digitalisation on individuals and society in an interdisciplinary way in order to develop design options for the transformation process.

“The digital transformation is one of the mega trends of our time and brings extensive changes for the economy and society. As part of the research alliance, we at ZEW will deal with the question of whether digital platforms are neutral towards users. The research alliance offers the opportunity to analyse this issue from the perspective of various disciplines,” explains Professor Irene Bertschek, head of ZEW’s Research Department “Digital Economy”.

“The alliance headed by the University of Mannheim brings together excellent research institutions in Baden-Württemberg in order to generate scientifically grounded knowledge that serves as a guidance for all of us. Just as digitalisation is changing many areas of our lives, the research alliance covers a very broad spectrum of disciplines,” says Theresia Bauer, Baden-Württemberg Minister of Science and Chairwoman of the ZEW Supervisory Board.