Contact-tracing apps to combat the Covid-19 pandemic have increasingly been mentioned as useful tools to accompany and contribute to a return to normality despite the many ethical and legal questions they raise. The pressure exerted by business circles and lobbies to restart and ‘save the economy’... Find out more

This Foresight Brief examines whether digital labour platforms should be treated as private employment agencies. Platforms like LinkedIn may rightfully be perceived by the general public to be mere social networks, but underneath their sleek design, they also act as an employment service. This brief... Find out more

This Foresight Brief examines whether work has a future in the digital age. A recent wave of innovation mean machines are capable of taking over from humans an ever-wider range of tasks. Will this deprive humans of work, or force them to seek out jobs involving different tasks? Authors Gérard... Find out more

This policy brief examines how trade unions can use YouTube videos as a tool for organising and informing trade unionists and workers. Although often expensive to produce, YouTube content offers an effective way for trade unions to reach out to young people who are less likely to be union members... Find out more

This policy brief discusses how social media can help renew trade union collective action and strengthen the labour movement’s capacity to mobilise. It demonstrates how social media can strengthen campaigning activities by examining two recent union-led campaigns in the United States: ‘OUR Walmart’... Find out more

This policy brief assesses the presence and the relationships brokered by trade union confederations through their online channels, in order to, first, find out who they are engaging with and, second, to consider whether these virtual connections have any implications for the wider discussion about... Find out more

‘Whoever becomes the ruler of AI will become the ruler of the world,’ said Vladimir Putin in September 2017. The USA, Russia and China are all adamant that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the key technology underpinning their national power in the future. What place, then, is there for Europe... Find out more

Are we currently living through a new industrial and technological revolution? Does it differ qualitatively from similar revolutions in the past? How can we gauge its political implications? Researchers working within the school of evolutionary economics, in particular those who embrace the concept... Find out more

Although there is little argument about the fact that climate change and the digitalisation of the economy are the two main trends that will matter most over the coming decades, to date they have predominantly been considered separately rather than together. The first step towards shaping our future... Find out more

This paper discusses the European Parliament’s Resolution of 16 February 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (European Parliament 2017). It provides a brief summary of the content of the Resolution and looks at its basic principles and raison d’être. It also... Find out more