Sustainable and/or Digital? Compendium on Digital Sustainability

tl;dr: Compendium of my research on Sustainability and the Digital Transformation

When Megatrends Collide

Sustainability is the great challenge for humanity in the 21st century: how to organize economic, political, and social systems in a way that planetary boundaries and the viability of global as well as local ecosystems can be maintained for all posterity. It is an inherently political (i.e. contested, conflict-laden) as well as social (i.e. global justice and fairness across generations) question. We are facing this from a position of fundamental un-sustainabilities and are in search for the right path ahead. At the same time, the digital transformation (digitalization as we call it in Germany) is re-shaping the global economy, but also global politics as well as our very personal lifeworlds. Its core logic of unlimited connectivity and the potential to collaborate and co-create beyond the limits of a single organization gives rise to the idea of a more empowered economy in which active prosumers are becoming key actors. Paul Mason even argues that the digital transformation will herald the dawn of a post-capitalist society. Both of these challenges, these global megatrends, collide and intersect each other.

Framing the Challenge

My research since 2017 has focused more strongly on this intersection, on this collision. Quite naturally, more questions than answers arise at first and so, together with colleagues from across Europe, I dived into the “Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition“, resulting in what called “European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table”. In addition, I published an article on sustainability and digitalization (in German) in which I problematized the many unsustainabilities of the digital transformation, especially its vast and growing material and energetic underbelly. And in early 2018 I gave a lecture (in German) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT on the question if the digital transformation could contribute to more sustainability – or less.

Basic Concept: Sustainability 4.0

The basic concept I developed is that of a Sustainability 4.0. In a nutshell, Sustainability 4.0 implies the empowered co-creation of prosumers in order to re-shape economy and society towards social inclusiveness and ecological soundness. In German, I have published an article with Springer Gabler on this notion and detailed how the digital transformation can be understood as a social phenomenon (not just a technological one), how sustainability as a gobal (and hegemonic) concept can contribute to digitalization as a normative reference Frame, and how sharing and commons economy activities might light the way to a deeper understanding how Sustainability 4.0 can change the way we think about the economy.

Understanding the Digital Transformation

When we talk about the digital transformation or digitalization, we often overlook what a fundamental societal shift this entails. In Karl Polanyi’s words, we are truly talking about a “Great Transformation”. In a keynote (in English) at the Wizemann.Space in Stuttgart, I elaborated on that idea of a societal shift applying a system- and form-theoretical framework (by Dirk Baecker, based on George Spencer-Brown and the “Laws Of Form”). The theoretical background to this shift and its implications especially on the firm is elaborated in a journal article (in English) with ephemera on “The Shape of Things To Come”.

Applications of my Frameworks and Concepts

In three fields my frameworks and concepts have been applied: social Innovation, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence. Of course, all of this is still early stage in my research and I plan to broaden and deepen These and other fields.

Connecting social innovation and digital sustainability, I gave a keynote (in English) at the 2018 Social Innovation Summit in Stuttgart in which I highlighted the nature of social practices in sustainable consumption and production and their relation to social innovation. This also lead to an article (in German) on revisiting Joseph Schumpeter by addressing social Innovation in collaborative innovation processes.

Digital platforms have inspired the imagination of sustainability-minded entrepreneurs and activists (and policy makers). They potentially provide the opportunity to share, trade, barter products and knowledge about products (i.e. how to repair them) and reduce the ecological footprint significantly. Research results are inconclusive so far, yet the discussion is taking off especially here in Europe. The high-Level workshop from the German Development Agency (GIZ) and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) on “Sustainability in the Age of Platforms” discussed these issues(in English). In addition I also published an article (in German) on an alternative platform economy with cooperative platforms.

Artificial Intelligence is the next big thing in the digital transformation, yet its contributions to sustainability remain rather unclear. For me this is really early stage research in which I tried to understand the potentials of Artificial Intelligence through the lens of Ivan Illich and his notion of “Conviviality”. By applying Andrea Vetter’s conviviality matrix as a tool for technology assessment, I wrote a blog article (in English) as well as a short essay (in German) on how Artifical Intelligence might become a convivial and thus sustainable technology.

References (Publications and Talks)

Reichel, A. (2019a). Sustainability 4.0 – Über die Konvergenz von Nachhaltigkeit und Digitalisierung. In: M. Englert, & A. Ternès (Eds.), Nachhaltiges Management (105-119). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Gabler.

Reichel, A. (2019b). Autonomie oder Abhängigkeit: KI als konviviale Technologie. In: Trendstudie Künstliche Intelligenz: Wie wir KI als Zukunftstechnologie nutzen können (100-102). Frankfurt a.M.: Zukunftsinstitut GmbH.

Reichel, A. (2018a). Nachhaltige Digitalisierung, digitale Nachhaltigkeit? In: Holger Rogall et al. (Eds.), Jahrbuch Nachhaltige Ökonomie 2018 / 19 – Im Brennpunkt: Zukunft des nachhaltigen Wirtschaftens in der digitalen Welt (89–102). Marburg: Metropolis.

Reichel, A. (2018b).  Die Neuerfindung des Neuen: Soziale Innovationen in kollaborativen Innovationsprozessen. In: H. Frambach et al. (Eds.), Schöpferische Zerstörung und der Wandel des Unternehmertums: Zur Aktualität von Joseph A. Schumpeter (53-70). Marburg: Metropolis.

Reichel, A. (2018c). Traut Euch! Vom Plattformkapitalismus zum Plattformkooperativismus? politische ökologie, 155(36), 78-83.

Scholz, R. W., Reichel, A., Bartelsman, E. J., Diefenbach, S., Franke, L., Grunwald, A., Helbing, D., et al. (2018). Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table. Sustainability, 10(6).

Reichel, A. (2017). Shape of things to come: From the «Laws of Form» to management in the postgrowth economyEphemera: Theory and Politics in Organization17(1), 89-118.


Sustainability in the Age of Platforms. Input talk & podium discussion, CEPS & GIZ, Brussels, 11 June 2019.

From Now to Next: Digital Transformation and Societal Change. Keynote at Digital Revolution & the Common Good: OPEN LECTURE SERIES X Vol.2 #OLSX, Wizemann.Space, Stuttgart, 27 November 2018.ce, Stuttgart, 27 November 2018.

Digitalisation for a Sustainable Economy. Podium discussion at ASA Kaleidoskop 2018, Stuttgart, 26 October 2018.

Digitalisierung in Nord + Süd nachhaltig gestalten. Keynote at ZEB-Zieletagung 2018, Stuttgart, 24 July 2018.

Digitalisierung nachhaltig gestalten. Input talk at Gesprächsrunde Digitalisierung, Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bad Urach, 18 July 2018.

Nachhaltige Digitalisierung, digitale Nachhaltigkeit: Herausforderungen und  Chancen für die sozial-ökologische Wende. Keynote at nachhaltig digital – 25. unw-Stadthausveranstaltung, Ulm, 8 May 2018.

Nachhaltige Digitalisierung, digitale Nachhaltigkeit? Keynote at 2. Frühlingstage der Nachhaltigkeit am KIT, Karlsruhe, 21 March 2018.

Digital Sustainability and Social Innovation. Keynote (video) at Social Innovation Summit 2018 #SIS18, Stuttgart, 9 March 2018.

Wie digital ist unsere Welt 2050? Die Rolle der Digitalisierung für eine <2 Grad Welt. Keynote Jahrestagung 2017, Stiftung 2grad, Berlin, 22 November 2017.

Sustainability 4.0 – Making the Digital Economy work for Sustainability, Talk Deutsches CSR-Forum, Ludwigsburg, 5 April 2017.

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