Digital turn in europe: strengthening relational reliance through technology
TRUST promotes an interdisciplinary research program, involving academic and non-academic institutions, in order to understand the role of trust in the implementation of digital technologies and suggest actual means of development. Assuming that the digital transformation of European society can be fully achieved only if technologies evolve in a trustworthy environment, the project analyses the mutual influence between trust and digital technologies in order to raise relational reliance in people-to-people, people-to-business and people-to-authorities interactions.
The attention is on blockchain technology (BCT) as one of the most relevant forms of Distributed Ledger Technology. BCT is considered a trust-building machine as it creates new forms of relational reliance. BCT projects the issue of trust in a new dimension that we intend to explore, in adherence with the initiatives and key actions promoted by the EC in the Communication “Shaping Europe’s digital future” (COM (2020) 67final), where it is remarked that trust and digital transformation of society go hand-in-hand.
The research and knowledge transfer programme evolves around key topics, such as: the development of a suitable regulatory framework for the effective integration of BTC in a trust-based society; the transition towards a fair and competitive peer to peer economy; the applications of BTC in the field of AI, to assure security and trust; the development of new models of collaborative governance for smart and trust-based cities. 
The consortium gathers expertise from different backgrounds (legal, economic, engineering), belonging to EU countries, as well as Israel and China. Complementary research perspectives, innovative training and international/intersectoral cooperation will boost staff careers development by studying how the use of digital technologies can shape a trustworthy European environment, in which citizens are empowered in how they act and interact, and promote economic growth as well.