Vision

Our society is at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with digital technologies reshaping individual lives, transforming business processes, changing societal dynamics, and influencing government policies.

Digital technologies are reshaping our behaviors as consumers, ranging from purchasing products and accessing information to cultivating personal relationships and learning new skills. Healthcare professionals are embracing digital technologies for enhancing the quality and efficiency of internal business processes (e.g., electronic medical records) and for engaging with patients (e.g., telemedicine, patient portals). Businesses are continuing to define new ways of conducting transactions with other businesses (B2B) and with consumers (B2C). Digital technologies are also fundamentally transforming political discourse, as political candidates increasingly leverage social media to communicate with supporters and persuade undecided voters.

It is no wonder that Forbes recognizes digital technologies as the backbone of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, citing Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Blockchains, and Quantum Computing as just a few examples. The future prosperity of the society will be defined by how we creatively use, deploy, and assimilate digital technologies across all the sectors of the economy and by how the cultural norms is shaped by this paradigm shift.

The Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business fosters better collaborations with the industry to address questions of strategic importance to the digital society through rigorous academic and applied research — learn more about our research and who we are.