SUNRISE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SERIES
In the realm of technology development and implementation, it is crucial to acknowledge its potential impact on diverse demographic groups, including individuals, communities, and society as a whole. While some effects are direct and intentional – such as a technology that enhances a company’s security and financial performance – others may be more subtle and less immediately apparent. For instance, shifts in interpersonal communication, work-life balance, or social isolation among employees may emerge as unintended consequences that have the potential to affect the people’s wellbeing Therefore, maintaining awareness of these potential outcomes is essential to mitigate negative effects while maximising technological benefits. A proactive approach to these considerations fosters a more inclusive and balanced technological landscape, encouraging innovation without compromising the well-being of the individuals and communities it serves.
To systematically address these concerns, Social Impact Assessment (SIA) plays a key role in evaluating the social consequences of planned interventions, including projects and new technological solutions. Typically conducted during the planning and development stages, SIA provides an evaluation framework to understand and measure social impacts and overall well-being.
Ensuring responsible technology development, deployment and application requires careful consideration of all potentially affected groups. It also involves defining key impact areas and establishing measurable indicators that provide measurable data for informed changes in technology deployment and use (Kah and Akenroye, 2020). Without a well-defined evaluation process, assessments can produce biased or misleading results that fail to accurately represent stakeholders’ priorities and interests (Fonseca, 2022). However, SIA cannot be initiated with a pre-defined checklist of possible impacts, as the nature and consequences of technologies vary significantly from tool to tool (Vanclay et al., 2015).
A primary challenge in SIA is determining impact metrics to apply and identifying the most relevant indicators to measure and report. This challenge becomes even more complex when assessing technological tools that have not yet been deployed. A notable example is the SUNRISE project, where impact evaluation began prior to technology deployment and infrastructure testing. Rather than relying on a predefined list of impact categories, the project’s assessment focused on the ex-ante evaluation methodology, prioritizing the definition and validation of indicators. This approach ensured that both the specificity of each tool and the broader development and implementation contexts were taken into account. In this context, each evaluation phase required a realistic understanding of the potential impacts (Passani et al, 2014), with a strong emphasis on identifying impact areas, validating findings, and making necessary adjustments throughout the evaluation process.
Given the innovative nature of the SUNRISE technological tools and the unique characteristics of their development process, the project adopted a tailored methodological strategy with several iterative cycles taking into account the development and testing phases of the tools. By incorporating the perspectives of experts (e.g. CI representatives, tool developers, social science experts) and end-users (management, employees), the evaluation process avoided relying solely on the views of a single group of stakeholders (Zherdev et al, 2024). This is achieved through the use of a mixed-methods approach, utilizing surveys, interviews, and focus groups, allowing for a comprehensive impact analysis. A high degree of methodological adaptability enabled the integration of context-specific indicators, ensuring a more meaningful and relevant impact assessment (Vanclay et al, 2015). The initial phase of the impact assessment provided the foundation for subsequent SIA stages. Key indicators categories identified during this phase included data collection practices, safety considerations, and workplace environment changes.
As the SIA of the SUNRISE project remains an ongoing process, with only the first round of assessment (ex-ante analysis) fully completed, the final evaluation outcomes and a sustainability roadmap for the technological tools will be delivered by the end of the project in September 2025.
An effective SIA requires careful consideration of development phases, the establishment of a robust set of indicators, and a participatory verification of social impact subcategories. The integration of these elements into an impact assessment strategy facilitates a deeper understanding of the technological context, provides valuable feedback to developers, and highlights the importance of social factors in ensuring the long-term sustainability of novel technological solutions.
Written by Nikolay Zherdev, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
References:
Fonseca, A. (Ed.). (2022). Handbook of environmental impact assessment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kah, S., & Akenroye, T. (2020). Evaluation of social impact measurement tools and techniques: a systematic review of the literature. Social Enterprise Journal, 16(4), 381-402.
Passani, A., Monacciani, F., Van Der Graaf, S., Spagnoli, F., Bellini, F., Debicki, M., & Dini, P. (2014). SEQUOIA: A methodology for the socio-economic impact assessment of Software-as-a-Service and Internet of Services research projects. Research evaluation, 23(2), 133-149.
Vanclay, F., Esteves, A. M., Aucamp, I., & Franks, D. (2015). Social Impact Assessment: Guidance for assessing and managing the social impacts of projects.
Zherdev, N., Klein, O., Sconfienza, U., Gerber, P., Vladušič, D., Butler, J., & Pasic, A. (2024, September). A framework for enabling ex-ante social impact assessment of project-based technological solutions: the case of Remote Infrastructure Inspection. In 2024 19th Conference on Computer Science and Intelligence Systems (FedCSIS) (pp. 513-524). IEEE.
