In many discussions about technology, the focus is on speed, efficiency, and economic growth. New technologies are often presented as engines of productivity and innovation. That perspective is understandable, but it does not tell the whole story. Technology also changes the way people relate to one another. It can create new possibilities for cooperation, but it can also generate new forms of inequality. For that reason, technology should not only be judged by what it can do, but also by what it does to the relationships between people.

Within DeSolidariteit and the initiative SOLID Lab, a different question therefore takes center stage. Not only: how does technology work? But more importantly: what is it used for? And perhaps even more fundamentally: can technology open a new space for solidarity?

Solidarity in a New Infrastructure

Traditionally, solidarity was organized through recognizable institutions. Trade unions, churches, civic associations, political parties, and national welfare states all created frameworks through which people could support one another. These institutions formed a social fabric in which mutual responsibility and shared interests became visible and meaningful.

Technology is profoundly transforming this landscape. Digital networks allow people to connect without being located in the same city, organization, or even country. The infrastructure of solidarity is therefore shifting from physical structures to digital connections.

A citizen in the Netherlands can support a school project in Africa through an online platform. Scientists can collaborate across continents in open research networks. Volunteers can develop educational materials for children in refugee camps through shared digital environments. Solidarity, once largely organized locally or nationally, can now assume a global dimension.

This does not mean that local solidarity disappears. On the contrary, digital tools can strengthen local communities. Neighborhood initiatives, care networks, and citizen cooperatives increasingly use digital platforms to mobilize people, share information, and coordinate activities. Technology can therefore expand the scale of solidarity while simultaneously reinforcing the vitality of local communities.

The Rise of Platform Solidarity

Digital platforms are often associated with large technology companies that dominate markets and collect enormous amounts of data. Yet the same technological infrastructure also contains the possibility of a different economic logic.

When platforms are organized cooperatively, they can function as shared economic spaces. Users are not merely customers, but co-owners or co-decision makers. Instead of maximizing profit for a small group of shareholders, a platform can be designed to create and distribute value collectively.

In several countries, experiments with such platform cooperatives are already emerging. Digital marketplaces for local products, shared transportation networks, and cooperative care platforms demonstrate how technology can support new economic models. In these initiatives, solidarity acquires an economic dimension. Technology is no longer only a tool for faster transactions, but also a means of building shared ownership and democratic governance.

Data Solidarity and the Visibility of Vulnerability

Another important development is the growing role of data. In many sectors, data are treated as a new resource, comparable to oil or other natural commodities. Companies collect vast amounts of information to predict behavior, analyze markets, and optimize products.

However, data can also serve a different purpose. When used carefully and ethically, they can help reveal social problems that might otherwise remain hidden. Data analysis can show where poverty is concentrated, where loneliness among older adults is increasing, or where climate risks are most severe.

In this way, information can contribute to more just policies and better targeted support. This requires clear safeguards and strong protection of privacy. People must never be reduced to datasets or algorithmic profiles. Data solidarity means using information to recognize and address vulnerability while preserving human dignity.

Predictive Solidarity

Advances in artificial intelligence and data analysis make it increasingly possible to detect social trends earlier than before. This opens the door to what might be called predictive solidarity.

If systems can identify early signs that students are at risk of dropping out of school, educators and social workers can intervene sooner. If healthcare data reveal that family caregivers are becoming overwhelmed, support can be organized earlier. If climate models indicate where droughts or floods are likely to occur, societies can prepare more effectively.

Solidarity thus becomes less reactive and more preventive. Instead of responding only after crises have escalated, communities can act earlier to reduce harm and protect those who are vulnerable.

Technology in Healthcare: Between Distance and Presence

One of the fields where the relationship between technology and solidarity becomes especially visible is healthcare. Digital consultations, smart devices, and supportive technologies can make care more accessible, particularly for people living far from medical facilities or facing mobility challenges.

For older adults and people with disabilities, technological assistance can also promote greater independence. Monitoring systems, assistive devices, and digital tools can help individuals remain in their homes longer and maintain a higher quality of life.

Yet these developments also raise fundamental questions. Healthcare is not only a technical process but also a human relationship. When technology replaces human attention, care can become impersonal. When it reduces administrative burdens and frees time for personal interaction, however, it can strengthen the human dimension of care.

Technological solidarity in healthcare therefore requires balance. Technology should not replace human connection, but support it.

Knowledge Solidarity in the Digital Age

Another dimension of solidarity concerns access to knowledge. Digital technology allows education, research, and information to be shared on an unprecedented scale. Online courses, open scientific platforms, and open-source initiatives make knowledge available to far more people than before.

This is essential, because inequality is often linked to unequal access to knowledge. Those who have access to information, education, and digital skills have greater opportunities to participate fully in society.

New forms of solidarity therefore require knowledge solidarity. Investments in education, digital literacy, and open access to information are crucial. Technology can contribute to justice only if it is accessible not merely to a technological elite but to society as a whole.

Ecological Solidarity

Technology is also increasingly shaping the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Sensors can measure pollution, satellites can monitor deforestation, and digital systems can help manage energy and natural resources more responsibly.

In this sense, technology can support a broader form of solidarity: solidarity with future generations and with the planet itself. When technology contributes to fair energy distribution, reduces waste, and protects ecosystems, solidarity extends beyond human society to include ecological responsibility.

This perspective requires that technological development be evaluated not only by economic performance but also by its contribution to sustainability and environmental stewardship.

The Ambivalent Power of Technology

At the same time, technology remains fundamentally ambivalent. The same systems that enable collaboration can also concentrate power. Digital platforms can connect communities, but they can also monopolize markets. Data can promote fairer policy, yet they can also be used for surveillance and control.

Technology therefore cannot be separated from political and social choices. The crucial questions are not only which technologies are developed, but also who develops them, who controls them, and who benefits from them.

Solidarity in a technological society thus requires public engagement, democratic oversight, and ethical reflection. Technology should be treated as a social infrastructure for which we collectively bear responsibility.

A New Space for Solidarity

When technology is designed and governed as a shared resource rather than purely as a commercial instrument, it can indeed open a new space for solidarity. Digital networks can connect people across borders. Data can help identify vulnerability and direct support where it is most needed. Artificial intelligence can assist where human capacity alone may fall short.

Yet this transformation does not happen automatically. It requires deliberate choices in design, regulation, and use. Technology must not only make societies more efficient, but also more just, humane, and compassionate.

The central question therefore remains the same: not only what technology can do, but what we want technology to do. When technological innovation strengthens human dignity and shared responsibility, it can become a powerful force for solidarity.

In that perspective, technology is no longer merely a collection of machines and systems. It becomes a new public space—a space where people collaborate, share knowledge, mobilize support, and assume responsibility for one another and for the world they inhabit.

This is the challenge that initiatives such as DeSolidariteit and SOLID Lab seek to address. Technology should not be an end in itself, but a means of building a society in which connection, justice, and human dignity remain at the center.