The Foundation carries out research projects over a period of five years, mainly focused around Europe and the issues it may face. These projects are carried out by different specialists, in the form of an expert group, offering a platform for research, discussion and debate on current European challenges. Through the organisation of events, workshops, conferences, meetings and interviews, a final document is published, in the form of a policy paper.
After a first project dedicated to sustainable mobility and its challenges, a new period started in 2020 and runs until 2025. This research focuses on developping tools to better understand what society 4.0 stands for and what are its implications.
From 2020 to 2022, the exploration of the consequences and challenges of the transition to society 4.0 (or even 5.0 according to some authors) covered the concept of the smart city, a central component when talking about society 4.0. In the midst of a health crisis due to Covid-19, this topic was highly relevant, as it allowed to highlight the link between smart city technologies and crisis contexts, the main argument being that one should not put aside the ethical and moral questions related to the use of new technologies in contexts where social acceptability is distorted by a highly unusual situations such as confinement. You can find the policy paper by clicking here.
The project officier, Eva Paul, gave an interview to the Fribourg radio Frapp in June 2021. To listen, click here.