PRODIGEES: Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe Towards Sustainable Development

A Horizon 2020 project jointly lead by German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and Instituto Mora

PRODIGEES is a project – jointly lead by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the Mexican Instituto Mora – which is researching the effects of digitalisation on the environment, economy, governance and society throughout 2025. It sits on the cutting edge of research into digitalisation and transnational knowledge cooperation.

The project is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research program and connects eight countries on five continents in an investigation of digitalisation’s social, governmental, economic, and climatic impacts from local, national, regional and global perspectives.

Even in a pre-COVID19 world, digital technologies were already a powerful tool for achieving the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Now, the global pandemic has exposed the need for more cohesive transnational cooperation networks, and it has provided the imperative for research into digital innovations and their applications.

News, Publications and Events

News from the PRODIGEES project:

Exchange between Mexico City and Bonn, DIE Newsletter, November 2021
Online event series by MGG Network, PRODIGEES and CIFE continued, DIE Newsletter, February 2021
New online event series by EU network PRODIGEES on digitalisation and climate change, DIE Newsletter, January 2021
PRODIGEES – Research, Training, and Staff Exchange on Digitalisation and Sustainability amid Covid-19, Newsletter article, December 2020
How the EU and rising powers can shape their future sustainably by Grimm, Sven / Wulf Reiners / Benjamin Stewart, The Current Column (2020)
Democratic Governance of Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence? Exploring Governance Models of China, the US, the EU and Mexico by Schneider, Ingrid, EJournal of EDemocracy and Open Government (2020)
Do follow our project members on their secondment. Search #PRODIGEES on Twitter.

Publications & Digital Knowledge Products:

Die Digitalisierungsstrategie der Europäischen Union – Meilensteine und Handlungsfelder zwischen digitaler Souveränität und grüner Transformation by Wulf Reiners, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 2021
Can digital platforms be democratically regulated? by Ingrid Schneider, University of Hamburg, October 2021
Open Science: Epistemologies, science policy implementation and digitalisation by Benjamin Stewart, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), November 2021
Convergence and divergence in global data protection law, by Ingrid Schneider, University of Hamburg, November 2021
Trade agreements and data protection – Mexico’s position between Europe and the US by Ingrid Schneider; a podcast by Interview Ö1–Austrian public radio
A European Approach to Regulate Artificial Intelligence: Possible Global Impact by Krishna Ravi Srinivas, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi
CIFE Executive Training Web Seminar. Climate Change and Digitalisation: setting the context by Dr. Simone Lucatello (2021)
CIFE Executive Training Web Seminar. Climate Change and Digitalisation: the promise and the perils by Dr. Simone Lucatello(2021)
Data protection, AI and digital rights in Mexico: Europe as model of reference? by Ingrid Schneider (2020), Humanistische Union, vorgänge Nr. 231: Zeitschrift für Bürgerrechte und Gesellschaftspolitik
Inteligencia artificial y cambio climático by Gustavo Sosa Núñez (2020), Sin Embargo
How the EU and rising powers can shape their future sustainably by Grimm, Sven / Wulf Reiners / Benjamin Stewart, The Current Column (2020)
Democratic Governance of Digital Platforms and Artificial Intelligence? Exploring Governance Models of China, the US, the EU and Mexico by Schneider, Ingrid, EJournal of EDemocracy and Open Government (2020)
Can digital plataforms be regulated? A Dialogue Between The European Union and México (2020)

PRODIGEES events:

October 1, 2021 – Presentation by Ingrid Schneider, University of Hamburg onCan digital platforms be democratically regulated? with Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil
November 16, 2021 – Presentation by Benjamin Stewart, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) on Open Science: Epistemologies, science policy implementation and digitalisation with Instituto Mora, Mexico City
November 25, 2021 – Presentation by Ingrid Schneider, University of Hamburg on Convergence and divergence in global data protection law with King’s College London
December 7, 2021 – Presentation by Simone Lucatello, Instituto Mora on Digitalisation and Sustainability with the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
June 15, 2021 – Midterm Review Meeting with European Commission
May 10-12, 2021 – Presentation by Ingrid Schneider for the session, “Taming Digital Capitalism – But How?” at the NTA9-TA21 conference “Digital, direct, democratic? Technology Assessment and the Future of Democracy” at the Austrian Academy of Sciences – Institute of Technology Assessment (OEAW-ITA), Vienna
April 13, 2021 – Steering Committee Meeting (Setting the 2021 Agenda)
New online event series by EU network PRODIGEES on digitalisation and climate change
February 23, 2021 @ 15:15 CET – Global citizenship and digital learning. A workshop presented by MGG & PRODIGEES for the digitainable Forum with the Bonn Sustainability Alliance.
February 17, 2021 – Digital but Still Unequal, with Dr. Juan Carlos Domínguez Virgen. A webinar in collaboration with CIFE.
January 21, 2021 – Climate Change and Digitalisation. socio-economic and environmental dynamics in communities, Webinar in collaboration with Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE)
December 15, 2020 – Steering Committee Meeting (Setting the 2021 Agenda)
December 10, 2020 – Climate change and digitalization. Setting the context, Webinar in collaboration with Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE)
November 12, 2020 – Digital, but still Unequal: the Challenges of Digitalisation for Emerging Powers – Mexico, Virtual Workshop
May 27, 2020 – Steering Committee Meeting (Response to Covid-19)
March 30, 2020 – PRODIGEES – Digitalisation and Sustainability, Virtual Kickoff Meeting of the project

Digital technologies are understood to belong to the most powerful facilitators for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, the digital transformation will only be successful if it is socially accepted and fosters sustainable and equitable growth. Understanding and shaping the interdependencies between digitalisation and sustainability belongs to the key challenges of the digital era.

Through the exchange of staff and network-wide activities, PRODIGEES strengthens long-term research partnerships between Europe and Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa for transnational knowledge sharing on the interconnection of digitalisation and sustainability.

At the heart of the project is complementary and comparative research in different world regions. We want to generate a better understanding of how economic growth, government services, transparency, climate management and the availability of financial services can be improved through digitalisation. We also explore the challenges posed by its negative effects, such as labor displacement, increased inequalities, power asymmetries between states and digital platforms and questions of cyber security and privacy concerns.

PRODIGEES is carried out over five-and-a-half years, from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025. During this time period, researchers embark on ‘secondments’, which are staff exchanges between partner institutes within the PRODIGEES Consortium countries. The results of PRODIGEES secondments are made available through this website, as well as on social media and in our Zenodo online repository (see below). All PRODIGEES content is published as open access.