The key takeaways from the "human-in-the-loop" workshop held at Sustainable Places 2025 are now available. They draw on the insights of four EU-funded projects – DEDALUS, CRETE VALLEY, EnerTEF, and ENPOWER.
Digitalisation can only be truly transformative when it keeps humans at its core.
This was the guiding principle behind the workshop “
Human-in-the-loop digitalisation for Europe’s energy transition”, organised by
Fondazione ICONS – as leader of the DEDALUS dissemination and communication – under the umbrella of the
Smart Energy Cluster during Sustainable Places 2025.
The workshop’s main messages are captured in the document “
Human-in-the-loop in the Frame of the Energy Transition – Key Takeaways”.
The session brought together DEDALUS and three other EU-funded projects —
CRETE VALLEY,
EnerTEF, and
ENPOWER — to explore how to move beyond the rhetorical use of the term human-in-the-loop and translate it into concrete, people-centred methodologies that support Europe’s green and digital transitions.
Through an open and multidisciplinary exchange, participants discussed the barriers and enablers shaping the scalability of human-centred digitalisation, highlighting the crucial role of Social Sciences and Humanities, co-creation processes, and trust-building as prerequisites for social acceptance and long-term behavioural change.
Key insights include:
- Moving from concept to implementation by embedding user engagement and co-design from the very start.
- Recognising co-creation and SSH as the foundations of genuine human-centred innovation.
- Shifting from purely financial to social and intrinsic motivations, such as belonging and trust.
- Addressing the “language divide” between technical and social domains.
- Scaling human-in-the-loop approaches from buildings to communities.
The workshop’s conclusions call for a paradigm shift: digitalisation must empower people, not replace them.
Achieving this vision requires continuous collaboration between research, industry, policymakers, and citizens — ensuring that Europe’s energy transition is not only smart but also inclusive, just, and profoundly human.
Project website:
DEDALUS HORIZON
LinkedIn:
DEDALUS
YouTube:
DEDALUS-EU
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/dedalus-eu.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://mastodon.energy/@DEDALUS