The EU-funded Horizon 2020 SIENNA project has been awarded a Champions Certificate for its contribution to the ethical dimensions of the Information Society at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum. Agata Gurzawska, Research Manager at Trilateral Research received the award on behalf of the project consortium.
Co-organized by the UN agencies ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, the WSIS Forum 2022 represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the ICT for development community and is taking place at the ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, from 30 May to 3 June 2022, under the theme of ICTs for Well-Being, Inclusion and Resilience: WSIS Cooperation for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs.
The WSIS Prizes contest was developed after requests from stakeholders to create a mechanism to evaluate projects and activities that have leveraged the power of information and communication technologies to advance sustainable development in different ways. Since its inception, the contest has attracted more than 300,000 stakeholders.
On 31 May, 18 winning projects were announced, together with 72 champion projects, including SIENNA, which was recognized at the WSIS Prize 2022 Ceremony on 1 June 2022.
Trilateral Research was deputy coordinator of the SIENNA project, which worked to ensure that human rights, fundamental freedoms, and ethical values are respected in the design, development and deployment of new and emerging technologies.
Over the course of three years, Trilateral investigated the societal acceptance and awareness of genomics, human enhancement and AI and robotics technologies, outlining the ethical code of responsible conduct for researchers in AI and robotics. As part of the study, Trilateral considered the extent to which these technologies may pose risk to citizens and what measures can be taken to mitigate and avoid unwanted negative impact to human autonomy, equality, personal liberty, privacy and accountability.
“Trilateral engaged policymakers in public consultations to identify potential changes in existing legal and human rights frameworks at the international, EU and national levels, to better prioritise ethical considerations. This work culminated in the release of the SIENNA recommendations for the enhancement of the existing legal frameworks for genomics, human enhancement, and artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics,” said Ms Gurzawska.
The Trilateral report identifies potential changes in existing legal and human rights frameworks that might be necessary or desirable in order to create an environment in which the SIENNA proposals for ethical AI, human genetics and genomics, human enhancement technologies and robotics could be implemented most effectively.
Read more about Trilateral’s work in the SIENNA project here.
