Digital labour markets: the hard questions

They have potentially positive and negative effects; it's important to debunk some of the hype and rhetoric, writes Cristiano Codagnone. In 1770 Wolfgang von Kempelen presented a sort of robot called the Turk (hidden inside there was, in reality, a person operating it) that could beat humans at playing chess. The robot toured Europe, eliciting contrasting reactions about the future ..

Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems (SIMPHS): Structure of Available Data and New Measurement Framework with Selected Indicators

This policy brief provides findings from empirical research on market and innovation dynamics regarding Personal Health Systems (PHS) in Europe. Even the already most consolidated of all PHS segments (i.e. RMT) is found to be radically different than the initial assumptions. The research has revealed that the market is in a state far from being mature and as a result there is little standardised data available. RMT contributes only a tiny fraction of the eHealth market revenues. Pilots are still dominating the form of implemented cases. The market is fragmented also in terms of players without distinct segments. This policy brief recognise a huge potential in a modified approach towards evaluation and measurement of eHealth.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

ICT for the Social and Economic Integration of Migrants into Europe

This is the final report on a study carried out by IPTS on 'The potential of ICT for the promotion of cultural diversity in the EU: the case of economic and social participation and integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities'. The study explores ICT supply and demand aspects for and by immigrants and ethnic minorities in Europe and the related policy implications in their integration context This report selectively analyses the main findings from 5 previous publications from the study: an overview of digital support initiatives for/by IEM in the EU27 (Kluzer, Haché, and Codagnone 2008); a more detailed analysis of ICT supply and demand in IEM communities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK (Codagnone et al, eds. 2009) and three reports on case studies in France, Germany and Spain. It puts these findings into theoretical perspective, indicates the policy implications and makes recommendations.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

A composite index for the benchmarking of eHealth Deployment in European acute Hospitals. Distilling reality in manageable form for evidence based policy

This report presents the results of the multivariate statistical analysis performed by the authors on the data from the eHealth benchmarking Phase III survey. This survey, funded and managed by Unit C4 of DG INFSO, gathered data from a statistically representative sample of European acute hospitals in order to benchmark their level of eHealth deployment. The authors, after placing it within the appropriate policy context an within the broader academic debate on benchmarking in a policy perspective as part of the Open Method of Coordination, have rigorously and transparently constructed a composite index of Hospitals eHealth Deployment. They have also extensively discussed the results of the analysis and extracted implications and recommendations both for the benchmarking and evaluation agenda and for the broader policy agenda in this field. The topic covered falls within the scope of research activities carried out during the past three years by IPTS Information Society Unit in the specific domain of eHealth, both for what concerns its development and innovation dynamics and for what relates to benchmarking and evaluation. The Techno-economic Impact Enabling Societal Change (TIESC) Action of IPTS IS Unit, in fact, manages since 2009 the three-year project Strategic Intelligence Monitor for Personal Health Systems (SIMPHS) and focuses also on issues of measurement and evaluation . As mentioned, the survey producing the data analysed in this report has been funded and managed by DG INFSO Unit C4. The authors, in representation of IPTS, were part of the steering board of this project and were given the opportunity to access and use the data as soon as they were ready. We want, thus, to thank the Head of Unit C4 Lucilla Sioli for providing us such opportunity, the study Project Officer Virginia Braunstein for the support and collaboration during the realisation of this report, and Stefano Abbruzini (also from Unit C4) for useful comments provided on an earlier draft of this report. We also want to thank Maria Del Mar Negreiro Achiaga, Project Manager of the Deloitte/Ipsos consortium that realised the survey, for her collaboration and availability.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

The Platform Economy After COVID-19: Regulation and the Precautionary Principle

AbstractOnline platforms are two-sided or multisided markets whose main function is matching different groups (of producers, consumers, users, advertisers, i.e., hosts and guest in Airbnb, audiences and advertised in Google, etc.) that might otherwise find it more difficult to interact and possibly transact. Some of the potential critical issues associated with the platform economy include the relationship between personhood (the quality and condition of being an individual person with protected sphere of privacy and intimacy) and personal data, on which the platform economy thrives by extracting behavioral surplus, scale to dominance and market power, and lockin for businesses. In this chapter, I first shortly review how the pandemic crisis has impacted the platform economy and what problems are being exacerbated. I then conclude and focus the core part of my analysis on the issue of regulation and particularly on the merits and limits of applying the precautionary principle when addressing the online platform economy

i-FRAME – Assessing impacts of social policy innovation in the EU: Proposed methodological framework to evaluate socio-economic returns on investment of social policy innovations

This report presents the final proposal for developing a methodological framework to assess the impacts generated by social policy innovations which promote social investment in the EU, in short i-FRAME. This framework has the objective to provide a structured approach that shall serve as a comprehensive framework for conducting analysis of the economic and social returns on investments of social policy innovations. It also aims to act as a guide to gather insights into replicability and transferability of initiatives which promote social investment across the EU. The report outlines the reviewed and improved theoretical and methodological approach developed by the JRC with help from external experts, and validated by testing the operational components proposed on a number of case studies and scenarios of use. After outlining the conceptual and methodological approach underpinning the i-FRAME (V1.0), the report discusses the proposal for building its operational components according to a structured theoretical framework of a dynamic simulation model for social impact assessment (V1.5). The final proposal for i-FRAME (V2.0) and an overview of the operational components for its implementation are then presented discussing the key elements that should be developed to build a comprehensive i-FRAME Web-Platform and simulator for social impact assessment. Conclusions are then offered in terms of implications for policy and directions for future research. These were drawn after consulting experts from different research disciplines, practitioners and representatives of relevant stakeholders and policymakers, and they include .recommendations for further developing the operational components proposed, paving the way towards building the i-FRAME (V3.0) and beyond.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Nudging lifestyles for better health outcomes: crowdsourced data and persuasive technologies for behavioural change

For at least three decades, a Tsunami of preventable poor health has continued to threaten the future prosperity of our nations. Despite its effective destructive power, our collective predictive and preventive capacity remains remarkably under-developed This Tsunami is almost entirely mediated through the passive and unintended consequences of modernisation. The malignant spread of obesity in genetically stable populations dictates that gene disposition is not a significant contributor as populations, crowds or cohorts are all incapable of experiencing a new shipment of genes in only 2-3 decades. The authors elaborate on why a supply-side approach: advancing health care delivery cannot be expected to impact health outcomes effectively. Better care sets the stage for more care yet remains largely impotent in returning individuals to disease-free states. The authors urge an expedited paradigmatic shift in policy selection criterion towards using data intensive crowd-based evidence integrating insights from system thinking, networks and nudging. Collectively these will support emerging potentialities of ICT used in proactive policy modelling. Against this background the authors proposes a solution that stated in a most compact form consists of: the provision of mundane yet high yield data through light instrumentation of crowds enabling participative sensing, real time living epidemiology separating the per unit co-occurrences which are health promoting from those which are not, nudging through persuasive technologies, serious gaming to sustain individual health behaviour change and intuitive visualisation with reliable simulation to evaluate and direct public health investments and policies in evidence-based waysJRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Leading the Charge on Digital Regulation: The More, the Better, or Policy Bubble?

For about a decade, the concept of ‘digital sovereignty’ has been prominent in the European policy discourse. In the quest for digital sovereignty, the European Union has adopted a constitutional approach to protect fundamental rights and democratic values, and to ensure fair and competitive digital markets. Thus, ‘digital constitutionalism’ emerged as a twin discourse. A corollary of these discourses is a third phenomenon resulting from a regulatory externalisation of European law beyond the bloc’s borders, the so-called ‘Brussels Effect’. The dynamics arising from Europe’s digital policy and regulatory activism imply increasing legal complexities. This paper argues that this phenomenon in policy-making is a case of a positive ‘policy bubble’ characterised by an oversupply of policies and legislative acts. The phenomenon can be explained by the amplification of values in the framing of digital policy issues. To unpack the policy frames and values at stake, this paper provides an overview of the digital policy landscape, followed by a critical assessment to showcase the practical implications of positive policy bubbles

Microfoundations, Behaviour, and Evolution: Evidence from Experiments

The article discusses whether and to what extent experiments can contribute to a research paradigm based on the study of human behaviour in complex evolving environments and on the problem of asymmetric adjustment among different components of economic system along certain trajectories, focusing on the possibility that experimental evidence may represent an external consistency check on this type of heterodox modelling. It considers the evidence on rationality of human agents, and the possibility to identify a microfoundation alternative to homo oeconomicus, discussing the evidence on humans as strong reciprocators, as trusting individuals and as embedded in social norms

Assessing the Impact of Integrated Personal Health and Care Services: the Need for Modelling

In Europe Public expenditure for healthcare and Long-Term Care (LTC) currently absorbs 6.8% of GDP and without innovative cost containment measures could almost double by 2050 and reach 12.8% of GDP due to several socio-economic and cultural trends. This challenge can be turned into an opportunity for inclusive innovation and growth if the potential of ICT would be fully exploited to deliver personal health and social care services to prevent and manage chronic diseases (i.e. remote monitoring and treatment) or to ensure a dignified and independent living at home for the elderly (i.e. Ambient Assisted Living, AAL). This potential is fully recognised in both the EU2020 Strategy and in the new Digital Agenda for Europe, and one of the first European Innovation Partnership in 2011 will focus on Health and Ageing and related services. This favourable context, however, suffers from a scientific gap with important strategic implications for policy making: there exists currently no micro or macro economic empirical or modelling analysis that would enable policy makers to either demonstrate ex post the impact of Health&Care services or to simulate ex ante their potential impacts. Lacking this support it is at times difficult to win traditional resistance to innovation and push full adoption of such services in Europe. This research explored the availability of tools and methods, both for macro- and micro- modelling tools and processes, assessed their implications, challenges and opportunities and reports on its findings. The paper concludes by laying the foundations for proposing a new research plan that would aim at filling the scientific and policy relevant gap by proposing a hands-on modelling exercise to study the impacts in one country for on chronic disease.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ