Technological transformations, skills and globalization - future challenges for shared prosperity

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme CLOSED

The combined effects of technological transformations, of trade and globalisation have created winners and losers in Europe and in the rest of the world. European economies are confronted with the co-existence of skill shortages, high unemployment, increased inequalities in income and wealth, asymmetrical labour mobility within Europe, as well as emigration and immigration. These structural imbalances need to be addressed, because political concerns in the Western world, and in particular in the European Union, relating to future challenges for shared prosperity are growing, in a context of uncertain futures. Following the assessment of the impact of technological progress, trade and globalisation on skills, employment, inequalities in income and wages and on labour mobility and migration in the EU, realistic and accurate projections into the future on the combined effects of technological progress and globalisation are needed to prepare our economies, societies and policies for what is to come and to build up capacities for influencing these changes.

Scope

Proposals should first measure impact of technological progress, trade and globalisation on skills, employment, inequalities in income and wages and on labour mobility and migration in the EU. It should then project how the interactions between technological change and globalisation will transform the current EU and international structure of labour markets and trade in commodities and services in existing and emerging sectors and their impact on income distribution and social inequalities. Particular attention should be paid to skill-biased, capital-biased, talent-biased and gender biased technical change and to possible trajectories for low-skilled work in the European and international context. The analysis should take into account the evolution of the processes through which technological change is integrated in the human world. This includes economic, institutional, political and socio-cultural contexts, needs and obstacles. The future volume and quality of work should be addressed in relation to skills, education, development, migration and mobility, demographic changes and the analysis of economic convergence and divergence within Europe and with the rest of the world. The challenges of competition, cooperation or conflict with emerging and developing countries need to be be considered. Both demand and supply side issues, including global value chains, off -shoring and their distributive effects, should be addressed in this topic.

Proposals should produce a comprehensive set of scenarios based on data from national and international agencies, from databases on labour markets, inequalities, globalisation, productivity and growth, and from other relevant official sources as needed (no specific/ad-hoc surveys should be used). The analysis should have a strong focus on disentangling the processes of technological change and of globalisation in important sectors of the economy to assess their impacts on inequalities, and their implications on the development of skills and competences that need to be strengthened in Europe, in order to reduce the uncertainty facing large sections of the population In addition, proposals should identify priority areas and content for policies that would make share the benefits of technological change and globalisation more equally and widely. For instance, proposals could map pathways for adapting working populations and their flows to trends in the international production and consumption structure. Paradigm changes needed in education, skill and talent development could be anticipated. Due to the specific challenge of this topic, participation of relevant partners from third countries, including developed, emerging and developing countries, is encouraged. This participation would enable a balanced discussion on competing points of view that are critical for the impact of the project. A solid dissemination strategy should be foreseen for bringing findings to the attention of policymakers and into the public domain.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the order of EUR 3 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected Impact

Results will contribute to inclusive and evidence based policy choices and informed public debates, especially on methods and processes of upgrading skills, mobility and labour markets. It will propose policies on the areas discussed above for different levels of national and international governance and the means of achieving multilateral cooperation on these objectives.

Cross-cutting Priorities

Socio-economic science and humanities
Gender