Social Sustainability in the Implementation of IoT Solutions in the Public Sector
A project exploring how IoT can be implemented in socially sustainable, ethical, and fair ways
Project Description
The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the public sector offers major opportunities for improved efficiency, new services, and better resource use in areas such as healthcare, social services, and urban management. However, IoT implementation also raises significant social, ethical, and justice-related challenges. Issues related to data privacy, consent, power redistribution, digital exclusion, and unequal access to technology risk undermining social sustainability.
These challenges occur at multiple levels:
- for individual citizens and frontline staff (micro level)
- within organisations and professions (meso level)
- across global data and technology systems (macro level)
There is therefore a strong need for systematic knowledge and practical guidance on how IoT can be implemented in socially sustainable, ethical, and fair ways. This strategic project addresses that need by developing guidelines and policy recommendations for socially sustainable IoT implementation in the Swedish public sector.
The project builds on previous IoT initiatives in Sweden and internationally, including EU Horizon 2020, WHO digital health programmes, and national Vinnova-funded projects. Despite these efforts, a holistic analysis of IoT’s social impacts across multiple societal levels is still missing. This project fills that gap by applying the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), which uses sustainability principles and backcasting to guide long-term system change.
Objectives
The overall aim is to strengthen decision-makers’ and practitioners’ understanding of how IoT affects equality, ethics, and justice, and to support responsible digital transformation in municipalities, regions, and state agencies.
The project has four main objectives:
- Increase knowledge of ethical aspects of IoT, including gender equality, consent, and citizen privacy in public services such as healthcare and elderly care.
- Assess how IoT can support social sustainability while minimising goal conflicts at micro, meso, and macro levels.
- Identify strategies for ethical, fair, and socially sustainable use of IoT in the public sector.
- Develop policy recommendations and guidelines for decision-makers, technology developers, and public organisations.
Work Packages
The work is organised into five work packages:
- WP1 maps social, ethical, and justice-related aspects of IoT at micro and meso levels through interviews, workshops, and case studies of implemented IoT projects (mainly from IoT Sweden).
- WP2 analyses global (macro-level) impacts, including power shifts related to data ownership, platform dominance, and international data flows.
- WP3 synthesises findings into concrete policy recommendations and guidelines for socially sustainable IoT implementation.
- WP4 focuses on communication and dissemination through seminars, publications, podcasts, workshops, and policy briefs.
- WP5 covers project management and administration.
Empirical material is collected through interviews and workshops with citizens, healthcare staff, municipal employees, planners, and technology developers. Scenario development is used to explore how IoT could promote social sustainability in future public-sector systems. The project also considers digital accessibility, aligning with Swedish and EU regulations such as the Web Accessibility Directive (WCAG) and national digitalisation strategies.
Project partners
- Uppsala University (leading)
- RISE
- Regions and municipalities: Borlänge, Borgholm, Skellefteå, Tjörn, and Östergötland
- Swedish Agency for Digital Government (DIGG)
- SKR (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions)
- Funktionsrätt Sverige (planned collaboration)