Over the last 20 years, digital technologies have arguably become the single most transformational factor of economies and societies. The digital revolution has seen the rise of highly disruptive technologies, such as machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the internet of things, mobile technologies and incredibly powerful network effects (Ubaldi et al., 2019[1]). As the industrial revolution did for our ability to use physical force to enhance societies’ industrial capability, the digital revolution has exponentially augmented our ability to produce, store, share and process information and data, leading to a dramatic transformation of our species’ analytical and co-ordination capabilities. By progressively embedding ICTs into the physical world, human societies are increasingly able to come up with smart solutions for today’s most pressing challenges.