Human-in-the-loop as part of the energy transition: from concept to practice

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 supporting 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.

(Photo Credits: Fondazione ICONS)

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