Policy and Politics in the Era of the Industrial Internet: How the Digital Transformation Will Change the Political Arena

The author analyses the dominant discourses on the evolution of policymaking in the era of the Industrial Internet. By focusing on the topics and related narratives that derive from both societal and communicational issues in the light of the digital transformation, the author provides a sound overview on the current technology-driven evolution of policymaking and gives an outlook on future tasks that derive from related mechanisms within the political sphere.

By contextualising developments associated with the Internet of Things and corresponding political outcomes in the shape of regulatory frameworks, it is outlined how the availability of data changes the way policies are made and furthermore demonstrated how influencers can guide the process of policymaking by providing data-oriented communicational services. This dialectic shift from political ideology towards evidence-based or data-driven policies accordingly would not only affect the nature of public discourse but be furthermore amplified by the Industrial Internet and associated outfits.