"Extremely valuable research results of almost unimaginable breadth and depth"
Abraham Bernstein, President of the Steering Committee, reflects on the NRP 77 programme meeting during which researchers presented their results. The Steering Committee now faces an "enormous, but also gratifying task."
At the beginning of June, 46 research teams presented their results and recommendations based on their research into various aspects of digital transformation to the Steering Committee. It was the last NRP 77 programme meeting before the Steering Committee will prepare the synthesis report.
After two intensive days, with a total of more than seven hours of project presentations and a Q&A session, Abraham Bernstein, President of the Steering Committee, looks back.
Five years of research are coming to a close, and this year's Programme Meeting was the last time that the research groups presented their results. What was your general impression?
It's incredible how many results have come together. On the one hand, there are extremely valuable research results of almost unimaginable breadth and depth, and on the other hand, there are the practical suggestions. We asked the researchers to make these recommendations because we have to go back to the various groups interested in the digital transformation with something tangible.
The aim of NRP 77 is to find answers to questions relating to the major issue of digital transformation. Has the research provided these answers?
We have certainly found relevant answers to a large number of the questions in the call for proposals. We even have answers to questions that we didn't ask at the outset. Various topics have only emerged in the public consciousness in recent years, such as generative AI for example. We also have results relevant to this subject. We will see whether we will be able to answer all the questions that were posed about digital transformation and substantiate them with results once we have analysed the presentations and final reports.
What are the next steps for NRP 77?
We are now waiting until all projects have been finalised and have submitted their final reports. This should be completed by the end of the year. The Steering Committee will meet at the beginning of next year to try to distil the most important and relevant results from the various projects and summarise them in a synthesis report. This is a massive task, which will certainly be challenging, but also exciting. In roughly two years' time, we will publish the report and discuss it with various stakeholders.
