Exploring Digital Transformation in Higher Education and Research via Scenarios

Abstract

Digital transformation induces rapid and profound changes in higher education and research (HER). With this foresight, INRAE and Agreenium, two French public HER institutions centered on food, agriculture and the environment, explore the challenges they face in a world increasingly dependent on digital resources. Four scenarios generated via morphological analysis provide researchers, teachers and institutions a heuristic framework to anticipate risks and opportunities in terms of: platformization of research, commodification of knowledge and the ascendency of data; pressing demands to respond to planet-wide emergencies; renewed multi-stakeholder relations between civil society and the academic community; and limits on energy and raw materials devoted to digital uses.