Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced data systems and automation are transforming workplaces across Europe. In sectors such as healthcare, these technologies promise improved efficiency, enhanced decision-making and better service outcomes. However, digital transformation is not purely a technical challenge. Its success depends on how technologies interact with human skills and organisational systems.
In many cases, there is a gap between what the technologies is intended to do and what it actually performs when mobilized in daily work. These gaps can reduce effectiveness, create unintended workload pressures, and undermine trust in digital innovation as well as in management. Ensuring that advanced technologies complement rather than disrupt human expertise is therefore a key challenge, across industries.
TechConnect addresses this challenge by examining how digital technologies and human skills interact in real operational environments. The project develops a systemic understanding of “human–technology skills complementarity”, analysing how digital systems align with the work performed in individual tasks, by professional roles, teams, departments and organisations as a whole.
The project pursues three core objectives:
To develop a scientifically grounded framework for understanding human–technology skill complementarity;
To design and validate a practical assessment tool capable of identifying gaps between intended and actual technology use;
To create guidance and intervention models that support organisations in implementing digital technologies in ways that strengthen human capabilities.
By combining social sciences, management research, healthcare practice and digital innovation studies, TechConnect contributes to Europe’s priorities on digital transformation, skills development and responsible, human-centred technological change.
