Having reached the end of this book, we will now draw a provisional conclusion and give an outlook on further projects. As already mentioned in the introduction (Hartmann and Shajek 2022, this volume), the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit) has been working on the future of work for many years. In the publications of the 2010–2020 decade (in particular the volumes by Botthof and Hartmann 2015; Wischmann and Hartmann, 2018), the main aim was to present fundamental theories on the then still new topic of Industry 4.0, to initiate a socio-political discourse, and subsequently to compile and focus on practical examples from the field of research and development.

In the early 2020s, a new substantive focus was then set on digital sovereignty and outlined in its complexity with two edited volumes (Hartmann 2021, 2022). In the present publication, we now put the workplace in the center and focus on the opportunities, possibilities, and limits of digital sovereignty from a wide range of academic disciplines, for different industries and in different parts of the world. What becomes clear is: Digitalization now permeates almost every aspect of our workplace, it has complex and multi-layered effects, and it can only be analyzed here by way of example.

At the same time, our work is characterized by a fundamentally optimistic view: Digitalization can enable sovereignty in the first place or promote sovereignty and open up the scope for action, for example, with the help of digital assistance systems (see the contribution by Bächler and Behrendt 2022, this volume) or through the possibilities of digitally supported education (see the contributions by Kanyane 2022, this volume and Windelband 2022, this volume). In addition, approaches are presented to positively shape the change towards digital work. The underlying assumption here is that there is also freedom of choice in the digital workplace and no technological determinism (see also Botthof and Hartmann 2015). All facets resulting from the dimensions transparency and explainability, confidence and freedom of action for people, and technology and organization (Hartmann and Shajek 2022, this volume) can be positively influenced.

This focus inevitably leaves out some aspects that will, however, also be of central importance for the (digital) future of work: From a work psychology perspective, these include questions of psychological stress resulting from the changed working conditions and corresponding occupational health management issues (some individual aspects are, however, dealt with in the article by Mayer et al. 2022, in this volume). But there are also many aspects arising from the digitalization of workplaces for the interactions of employees, e.g., for the cooperation between supervisors and their employees. In this context, these are common conditions for success in digital work (see, e.g., Busch-Heizmann et al. 2021). Digital work platforms are also given far less consideration (cf. Hartmann and Shajek 2022, in this volume), which might be a consequence of the editors’ one-sided German perspective. Questions of the cognitive-enhancement debate also remain largely untouched.

However, the topic of the future of work has not yet come to a close for us: We are already planning another volume with which we want to deepen the understanding of digital sovereignty at the corporate level (or any other type of organization). In particular, the publication intends to support management-level actors in designing strategies, products, structures, and processes to improve digital sovereignty. Topics include external challenges to organizational autonomy, such as the nature of digital products and markets, legal frameworks, and industry policies related to digital markets and products. Managing digital sovereignty at the enterprise level shall be addressed, with topics including, e.g., skills development or risk management as well as product and service design in support of digital sovereignty. Also planned are case studies to illustrate conditions for success.

We hope therefore to be able to provide one or two impulses in the future that will at least maintain and, if possible, promote the ability of companies and employees to act in the face of the constantly expanding capabilities of digital technologies.

Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to all authors for their multifaceted contributions. Thank you for giving us a profound insight into the aspects of digital work to which you devote your research. Without such constructive and smooth cooperation, the publication of this work would not have been possible. Our thanks also goes to our colleagues at the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit), in particular Désirée Tillack, Alexandra Lescher, and Pierre Dombrowski, for their excellent support.

Alexandra Shajek and Ernst Hartmann in November 2022.