Noëmi Kaufmann

This essay will capture some thought on how the coronavirus situation created a momentum for digitalization. The experience with the digital tools will hopefully have a lasting impact on our mindset and behavior; choosing remote work over business travel or using the generated high-quality online content to spread it over the world to increase the power and outreach of education. However, this will only be achievable, when internet access is well spread.

It is without doubt, that Covid-19 has increased the acceptance of digital tools. Covid-19 and the accompanying measures have created an accelerating momentum for the digital revolution and implementation of the tools. The sudden global lockdowns due to covid-19 forced us all, young and old, to move to the digital world. Everyone was confronted to immediately use digital exchange platforms, digital communication tools as zoom or skype, to participate in virtual conferences, virtual fairs, online lectures, and virtual teamwork sessions. All this increased digital awareness drastically. During the last months, digital technologies were the bridge keeping us connected mentally and socially, for fun and for work. Although many of the tools have existed since quite some years their adoption was far from reaching the broader society. The forces of Covid-19 have changed that and empowered people to rethink their usual ways of working and to explore the use of digital tools in all kind of sectors.

Leveraging the momentum of Covid-19 for digital technologies

How can we leverage the momentum and the new acceptance of digital technologies to address the SDGs?

I will try to point out possible strategies and developments on the basis of two examples covering the SDGs 4 and 13.

1. Successful remote work for CO₂ avoidance in the transport sector (Goal 13)
2. Global access to online education (Goal 4)

Successful remote work for CO₂ avoidance in the transport sector

During the last three months, the people who were able to, were forced to and learned to successfully work and collaborate remotely. We have many tools available: zoom, skype, and slack for calls and chats; careerfairy for virtual conferences and talks, Miro and Mural for digital brainstorming and many more. Job interviews, graduation presentations and exams all moved to the online realm. Everything happened from home.

As a result, CO₂ emission associated with air travel and commuting were reduced massively. The bans on business travel were also eye-opening for many companies, as they realized how little producitivity was lost with home office and how much they saved on travel costs, not to speak about their ecological footprint.

We can say, without all these digital solutions, remote work would have not been possible to the extent it happened and will happen during the crisis. The effects on global economy would have been even more catastrophic as than they are now. The change in the way we work and what we observe during this crisis will hopefully have an impact on our mindsets and behavior. It should make us reconsider which work travel we believe to be necessary in the future. Companies also started to put bigger hurdles and conditions in place for employees to book business travels. A reduction in business travel will have an impact as they currently account for 12% of all flights, not speaking of a change in leisure travel behavior. Certainly, remote work is not a silver bullet and won’t be fulfilling in the long run, as the social interaction with coworkers, creative inspiration from the office spaces and spontaneous advices from colleagues won’t be replaced easily by digital products. However, we might think twice before we book our next flight, as we have lots of tools available to connect around the globe. I hope that Covid-19 will help us to think differently of such solutions and to see them as opportunities and not threats. Particularly, I believe that there are many more useful digital tools yet to come. A few examples, which are now on the rise are virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and holograms. Holograms and Augmented reality will help to bring the 2D screen to a third dimension, projecting objects and people into the real room. Formats like this empower the users to interact, understand and observe with more senses and add a missing part from video conferencing. Being in the same room, sitting at the same table, even if virtually, will make it more attractive to hold online meetings compared to current solutions.

Figure 100.1 – Holographic Collaboration [7]

Global access to online education

The restrictions due to coronavirus prevented the education institutions around the world to continue with in person teaching. School, Universities and companies are currently creating massive amount of content online for children, students, employees, and clients. This enabled to reach far more people with high quality information and education as compared to only a few months ago. Online platforms such as Coursera, EDX or Udacity existed already but the ‘classical’ way of teaching still prevailed. Certainly, the online format requires more discipline and concentration by the pupils, but it also provides flexibility and a scalability never encountered before. What if this content could be made available to an even greater number of people across the world?

This might help to overcome a scarcity of teachers in developing countries. Or bring very specific knowledge niches to all interested parties, where the accessibility of this knowledge is not granted. The power of knowledge should not know any boarders. Despite these enthusiastic thoughts there are still many hurdles to overcome before global online education can be embraced. Internet access as well as device penetration and electricity coverage have to be a priority. Education will be possible for more people even in rural areas. Access to education has already been proven in the past to boost growth, expand opportunities, and reduce poverty. Internet access can also create jobs in faraway places, opening the doors of the job market to the newly educated people. Digitalization has already been a gamechanger e.g. for financial inclusion through phone-based money transfer.

The importance of digitalization for the SDGs is present in many areas. I hope to have shown with this short article, that remote work and access to online education can benefit the most by the omnipresent discussions during Covid-19. My hope is that the current momentum catalyzes much needed advancements in these two areas.

References:

[1] The Digital Revolution and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges, Report prepared by ‘The world in 2050’, International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASAC), 2019

[2] Maja van der Velden, Digitalisation and the UN Sustainable development Goals: What role for design, Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal – IxD&A, N.37, 2018 pp. 160-174

[3] https://news.itu.int/wtisd-2020-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-sustainable-development-agenda/

[4] http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/05/sustainable-development-goals-salvage-covid-19/

[5] https://www.cgdev.org/blog/can-we-use-digital-technology-cushion-pandemics-blow-and-deliver-sdgs

[6] https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041315/how-much-revenue-airline-industry-comes-business-travelers-compared-leisure-travelers.asp

[7] Picture: https://www.zdnet.com/article/holographic-collaboration-the-next-big-idea-in-remote-work/