Skip to main content

Back to projects

A large group of people smile down at a camera from an elevated platform as they stand behind black metal railing with office buildings and a skyscraper behind them.
Participants at the PRODIGEES closing conference gaining an insight into Mexico’s data centres ©Albert Thönniges, 2025

ProjectPRODIGEES

Making digitalisation work for sustainability

Promoting Research on Digitalisation in Emerging Powers and Europe towards Sustainable Development (PRODIGEES)

“PRODIGEES addressed the missing interlinkages between digitalisation and sustainable development across the social, economic, and environmental dimensions. While digital transformation has become a global conversation, the project informs the discussion on effective governance choices that keep global sustainability objectives in focus.” - Dr. Benjamin Stewart

Project impact

Digital technologies are transforming almost every aspect of society, including agriculture, education and human rights. Although they have the potential to solve inequality, environmental challenges and governance issues, in the wrong hands they can also do the exact opposite. The PRODIGEES project brought researchers and practitioners together across five EU-based organisations and five partner organisations in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa to examine the role of digital technologies. In order to do this, the project looked at everything from satellite imagery of rainforests in Brazil to the impact of fake news across three continents. As a result, the project was able to strengthen Europe’s position on debates in ethical digital transformation by steering policy discussions on the ethics of artificial intelligence, digital labour rights and governance strategies. This included contributing to discussions around the UN Global Digital Compact, a global framework for digital cooperation and governance agreed at the 2024 UN Summit for the Future.

  • Coordinator

    Germany

    Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungund Nachhaltigkeit Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung

  • Participating and partners countries

    • Austria
      • Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
    • Germany
      • Universität Hamburg
    • Italy
      • Istituto Affari Internazionali
      • Luiss Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli

    • Brazil
      • Fundação Getulio Vargas
    • India
      • Research and Information System for Developing Countries
    • Indonesia
      • Yayasan Pusat Pengkajian Malasah Strategi dan Internasional Indonesia
    • Mexico
      • Instituto de Investigaciones Dr José María Luis Mora
    • South Africa
      • Stellenbosch University

  • Project duration

    1 January 2020 - 30 June 2025

  • Funding scheme

    MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange

  • Net EU contribution

    € 749 800,00

  • Strategic topic

    Democracy