Browsing by Author "Ulnicane, Inga"
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Item Open Access Against the new space race: Global AI competition and cooperation for people(Springer, 2022-03-13) Ulnicane, IngaThis Open Forum contribution critically interrogates the use of space race rhetoric in current discussions about Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to this rhetoric, similar to the space race of the 20th century, AI development is portrayed as a rivalry among superpowers where one country will win and reap major benefits, while others will be left behind. Using this rhetoric to frame AI development tends to prioritize narrow and short-term economic interests over broader and longer-term societal needs. Three particularly problematic aspects of using space race narrative in AI discussions are highlighted: first, perceiving technology development globally as a zero-sum game; second, pressuring governments to regulate less; and third, prioritising high technologies over social issues. This contribution invites to challenge underlying political assumptions of the AI space race discourse and to open up conversations about alternative futures.Item Open Access Artificial Intelligence in the European Union: policy, ethics and regulation(Routledge, 2021) Ulnicane, IngaIn the context of recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and launch of AI policy documents and ethics guidelines around the world, since 2017, the European Union (EU) is developing its approach to AI. This chapter examines the key EU AI policy documents and the way the EU is positioning its AI policy vis-à-vis other global players. It draws on ‘Europe as a power’ debate and in particular on the concepts of Normative Power Europe and Market Power Europe to examine if in its approach to AI the EU prioritizes its norms or rather its market power. In the EU policy documents the elements of both normative and market power are closely intertwined. The EU attempts to project itself globally as a Normative Power Europe promoting its value-based and human-centric approach based and ethics guidelines for Trustworthy AI. These are closely connected with the EU’s ambitions to be a Market Power with appropriate regulation and investments which could also support implementation of its values and norms.Item Open Access Assessing responsible innovation training(Elsevier, 2023-06-10) Stahl, Bernd; Aicardi, Christine; Brooks, Laurence; Craigon, Peter; Cunden, Mayen; Datta Burton, Saheli; de Heaver, Martin; de Saille, Stevienna; Dolby, Serena; Dowthwaite, Liz; Keene, Paul; Kuh, Vivienne; Portillo, Virginia; Shanley, Danielle; Smallman, Melanie; Smith, Michael; Stilgoe, Jack; Ulnicane, Inga; Webb, HelenaThere is broad agreement that one important aspect of responsible innovation (RI) is to provide training on its principles and practices to current and future researchers and innovators, notably including doctoral students. Much less agreement can be observed concerning the question of what this training should consist of, how it should be delivered and how it could be assessed. The increasing institutional embedding of RI leads to calls for the alignment of RI training with training in other subjects. One can therefore observe a push towards the official assessment of RI training, for example in the recent call for proposals for centres for doctoral training by UK Research and Innovation. This editorial article takes its point of departure from the recognition that the RI community will need to react to the call for assessment of RI training. It provides an overview of the background and open questions around RI training and assessment as a background of examples of RI training assessment at doctoral level. There is unlikely to be one right way of assessing RI training across institutions and disciplines, but we expect that the examples provided in this article can help RI scholars and practitioners orient their training and its assessment in ways that are academically viable as well as supportive of the overall aims of RI.Item Open Access Beyond Research Ethics: Dialogues in Neuro-ICT Research(Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2019-03-29) Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-; Akintoye, Simisola; Guerrero, Manuel; Fothergill, B. Tyr; Ulnicane, Inga; Knight, WilliamThe increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to help facilitate neuroscience adds a new level of complexity to the question of how ethical issues of such research can be identified and addressed. Current research ethics practice, based on ethics reviews by institutional review boards (IRB) and underpinned by ethical principlism, has been widely criticized. In this article, we develop an alternative way of approaching ethics in neuro-ICT research, based on discourse ethics, which implements Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) through dialogues. We draw on our work in Ethics Support, using the Human Brain Project (HBP) as empirical evidence of the viability of this approach.Item Open Access Broadening Aims and Building Support in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy: The Case of the European Research Area(Journal of Contemporary European Research, 2015-02-27) Ulnicane, IngaThe aim of this article is to analyse the evolution of the ideational framework of the most ambitious initiative in supranational research governance so far – the European Research Area (ERA), launched by the European Commission in 2000. In order to do so, the ERA initiative is analysed against the background of the long-term development of the science, technology and innovation policy ideas. The analysis reveals that over the course of 14 years, the policy aims of, and support for, the ERA initiative have considerably broadened. While economic competitiveness goals initially dominated the Commission’s initiative to launch the ERA, the initiative has gradually expanded towards social and scientific aims as well as stronger involvement of member states and stakeholders. Recent “big ideas” of excellent science and Grand Challenges help increase support for the ERA initiative among the research community and society. In the broadened ERA ideational frame, diverse aims of scientific freedom, societal relevance and economic competitiveness co-exist but attention to the relationships between them has been limited. Further exploration and conceptualization of the relationships between diverse policy ideas is an important challenge for future research policy studies and practice.Item Open Access Data Governance in International Neuroscience Research(Middlesex University, 2019-11-07) Ogoh, George; Eke, Damian; Akintoye, Simisola; Knight, William; Ulnicane, Inga; Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-Item Open Access Developing Capabilities for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)(Elsevier, 2023-08-12) Ogoh, George; Akintoye, Simisola; Eke, Damian; Farisco, Michele; Fernow, Josepine; Grasenick, Karin; Guerrero, Manuel; Rosemann, Achim; Salles, Arleen; Ulnicane, IngaThis paper examines the notion of capability development through the lens of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). It describes how RRI capabilities can be promoted and developed through capacity-building activities by drawing on a reflection of the experiences of some members of the Ethics and Society team of the EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) who have contributed to the development of an extensive RRI capacity building programme for HBP researchers, EBRAINS research infrastructure developers and users, as well as interested external audiences. It also highlights some of the outcomes of the RRI capacity-building exercise and the challenge of assessing the impact of such activities.Item Open Access Emerging technology for economic competitiveness or societal challenges? Framing purpose in Artificial Intelligence policy(Springer Nature, 2022-09-19) Ulnicane, IngaThis study examines the policy discussions surrounding the purpose of the development and use of an emerging technology. It applies the two stylized technology policy frames of economic growth and societal challenges to analyse framing of one of the key emerging technologies today—Artificial Intelligence (AI). It demonstrates that recent AI policy documents include both—economic growth as well as societal challenges—frames. While AI is a novel technology, its recent policy builds on traditional ideas about the role of technology in facilitating economic growth and competitiveness supported by well-known measures such as investment in research and highly skilled workforce. Additionally, AI policy draws on more recent frame on the contribution of technology to addressing societal challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals but presents AI as a technological solution to complex societal issues. While some interest in addressing both economic and social objectives in AI policy can be observed, the policy documents remain silent about their compatibility.Item Open Access Ethical and Social Aspects of Neurorobotics(Springer, 2020-07-22) Aicardi, Christine; Akintoye, Simisola; Fothergill, B. Tyr; Guerrero, Manuel; Klinker, Gudrun; Knight, William; Kluver, Lars; Morel, Yannick; Morin, Fabrice O.; Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-; Ulnicane, IngaThe interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our understanding of the neural system’s inner workings, and to information technology to develop tools that support those complementary endeavours. The development of these technologies is still at an early stage, which makes them an ideal candidate for proactive and anticipatory ethical reflection. This article explains the current state of neurorobotics development within the Human Brain Project, originating from a close collaboration between the scientific and technical experts who drive neurorobotics innovation, and the humanities and social sciences scholars who provide contextualising and reflective capabilities. This article discusses some of the ethical issues which can reasonably be expected. On this basis, the article explores possible gaps identified within this collaborative, ethical reflection that calls for attention to ensure that the development of neurorobotics is ethically sound and socially acceptable and desirable.Item Open Access Ever-Changing Big Science and Research Infrastructures: Evolving European Union Policy(Edward Elgar, 2020-08-13) Ulnicane, IngaThis chapter analyzes ongoing European Union (EU) policy changes that affect Big Science and Research Infrastructures. These changes are part of a broader EU political agenda to strengthen the EU’s global position, facilitate growth and enhance coordination among EU member states. Important initiatives for Big Science and Research Infrastructures include the launch of large-scale research projects, support for e-infrastructures and the development of EU policy towards Research Infrastructures in the framework of the European Research Area initiative. To illustrate these EU policy changes, the chapter uses the example of the Human Brain Project – a large-scale research project that is turned into a research infrastructure. The chapter demonstrates that EU policy for Research Infrastructures supports a model of differentiated integration where a number of EU member states and non-members collaborate. While this model has the advantage of bringing together countries interested in particular Research Infrastructures, it can also present challenges when supranational projects are turned into Research Infrastructures.Item Open Access Experimentation, learning, and dialogue: an RRI-inspired approach to dual-use of concern(Taylor & Francis, 2022-07-18) Ulnicane, Inga; Mahfoud, Tara; Salles, ArleenResponsible Research and Innovation is promoted by research funders and scientific communities as a way to place societal needs and values at the centre of research and innovation. In practice, however, legal compliance still tends to dominate the RRI agenda. In order to move beyond the dominance of legal compliance and address a broader societal agenda, this article argues that RRI requires: (1) a productive intertwining of research and practice; (2) the integration of anticipation, reflection, engagement, and action (AREA) in a non-linear process; and (3) an experimental approach. Based on this framework, this article draws on our experience of developing and institutionalizing an RRI-inspired approach to address dual-use and misuse issues in the EU-funded Human Brain Project. Our experience suggests that the four dimensions of the AREA framework work better not as separate stages but rather being flexibly intertwined to enable experimentation, learning, and dialogue.Item Open Access Framing governance for a contested emerging technology: insights from AI policy(Taylor & Francis, 2020-12-17) Ulnicane, Inga; Knight, William; Leach, Tonii; Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-; Wanjiku, Winter-GladysThis paper examines how the governance in AI policy documents have been framed as way to resolve public controversies surrounding AI. It draws on the studies of governance of emerging technologies, the concept of policy framing, and analysis of 49 recent policy documents dedicated to AI which have been prepared in the context of technological hype expecting fast advances of AI that will fundamentally change economy and society. The hype about AI is accompanied by major public controversy about positive and negative effects of AI. Against the backdrop of this policy controversy, governance emerges as one of the frames that diagnoses the problems and offers prescriptions. Accordingly, the current governance characterized by oligopoly of a small number of large companies is indicated as one of the reasons for problems such as lack of consideration of societal needs and concerns. To address these problems, governance frame in AI policy documents assigns more active and collaborative roles to the state and society. Amid public controversies, the state is assigned the roles of promoting and facilitating AI development while at the same time being a guarantor of risk mitigation and enabler of societal engagement. High expectations are assigned to public engagement with multiple publics as a way to increase diversity, representation and equality in AI development and use. While this governance frame might have a normative appeal, it is not specific about addressing some well-known challenges of the proposed governance mode such as risks of capture by vested interests or difficulties to achieve consensus.Item Open Access From Responsible Research and Innovation to Responsibility by Design(Taylor and Francis, 2021-08-25) Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-; Akintoye, Simisola; Bitsch, Lise; Bringedal, Berit; Eke, Damian; Farisco, Michele; Grasenick, Karin; Guerrero, Manuel; Knight, William; Leach, Antonia; Nyholm, Sven; Ogoh, George; Rosemann, Achim; Salles, Arleen; Trattnig, Julia; Ulnicane, IngaDrawing on more than eight years working to implement Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the Human Brain Project, a large EU-funded research project that brings together neuroscience, computing, social sciences, and the humanities, and one of the largest investments in RRI in one project, this article offers insights on RRI and explores its possible future. We focus on the question of how RRI can have long-lasting impact and persist beyond the time horizon of funded projects. For this purpose, we suggest the concept of “responsibility by design” which is intended to encapsulate the idea of embedding RRI in research and innovation in a way that makes it part of the fabric of the resulting outcomes, in our case, a distributed European Research Infrastructure.Item Open Access Good governance as a response to discontents? Déjà vu, or lessons for AI from other emerging technologies(Taylor and Francis, 2021-03-07) Ulnicane, Inga; Eke, Damian; Knight, William; Ogoh, George; Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have led to intense debates about benefits and concerns associated with this powerful technology. These concerns and debates have similarities with developments in other emerging technologies characterized by prominent impacts and uncertainties. Against this background, this paper asks, What can AI governance, policy and ethics learn from other emerging technologies to address concerns and ensure that AI develops in a socially beneficial way? From recent literature on governance, policy and ethics of emerging technologies, six lessons are derived focusing on inclusive governance with balanced and transparent involvement of government, civil society and private sector; diverse roles of the state including mitigating risks, enabling public participation and mediating diverse interests; objectives of technology development prioritizing societal benefits; international collaboration supported by science diplomacy, as well as learning from computing ethics and Responsible Innovation.Item Open Access Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Emerging international trends and policy frames(Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2022-03-22) Ulnicane, Inga; Knight, William; Leach, Tonii; Stahl, Bernd Carsten; Wanjiku, Winter-GladysIn recent years, national governments, international organizations and stakeholders have launched numerous Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategies and reports. Recent research has mostly focused on AI ethics, while topics of AI policy and governance have received less attention. To address this research gap, this chapter addresses two main questions: what is driving fast-developing AI policies around the world and what are the main frames of emerging AI policies. To make sense of recent AI policy developments, this chapter draws on literature on emerging technologies, in particular on studies of performative function of hypes and expectations as well as of collaboration and competition dynamics in emerging fields. The analysis demonstrates that the fast-development of AI policy is largely driven, firstly, by a wide range of impacts of AI, and, secondly, by international assemblies such as the World Economic Forum and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development as well as by cross-national policy learning. However, AI policy developments are unevenly distributed around the world and are predominantly concentrated in the most developed regions. This chapter identifies three main AI policy frames: first, framing AI as revolutionary, transformative and disruptive technology; second, closely interconnected global competition and collaboration in the field of AI; and thirdly, a three-pillar approach of realising opportunities, mitigating risks and ensuring responsible AI. The chapter highlights that AI policy developments influenced by perceptions of hype, positive and negative expectations as well as global competition and collaboration can have not only positive but also problematic effects on resource allocation and political prioritization.Item Open Access The Governance of dual-use research in the EU: The case of neuroscience(Routledge, 2020) Ulnicane, IngaRecently, major research powers around the world have made unprecedented investments in neuroscience as one of the most promising technologies of the twenty-first century. However, advances in neuroscience can be used for beneficial as well as harmful purposes. This chapter analyses the governance of dual-use research in the EU by focusing on the main EU-funded neuroscience project and one of the large-scale international brain initiatives – the Human Brain Project. It shows how this project has developed its governance approach that goes beyond the European Union (EU) Framework Programme definition of dual-use and incorporates concepts of dual-use research of concern, Responsible Research and Innovation as well as political, security, intelligence and military issues. The resulting approach supports the governance of dual-use research that is based on anticipation, reflection, engagement and action as well as involving contributions from researchers, stakeholders and citizens. The chapter demonstrates how the Human Brain Project is overcoming challenges of limitations of the dual-use definition used in the EU Framework Programme, issues of awareness and education and questions of global collaboration. Lessons learned and good practices developed can be relevant for other international brain initiatives as well as research projects in other disciplines.Item Metadata only Grand Challenges concept: a return of the big ideas in science, technology and innovation policy?(International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy, 2016-08-15) Ulnicane, IngaIn recent years, the 'Grand Challenges' idea has become widely used in research and innovation policy around the world, shifting the focus to tackling global societal problems in areas such as energy, health and environment through boundary spanning collaborations. This paper traces origins and global diffusion of the concept and analyses it in the context of long-term development of science, technology and innovation policy. It argues that the content and organisational dimensions of the Grand Challenges concept represent both continuity and change in research and innovation policy: although the concept draws on traditional and more recent ideas about the social function of science and collaborations among heterogeneous actors, its focus on tackling large-scale global societal problems is novel. Scientific leaders and the private sector have played an important role in the emergence and diffusion of the concept, which was afterwards taken up by international organisations, national governments and research organisations.Item Open Access Intersectional observations of the Human Brain Project's approach to sex and gender(Emerald Publishing, 2019-05-13) Fothergill, B. Tyr; Knight, William; Stahl, Bernd Carsten, 1968-; Ulnicane, IngaPurpose – This paper aims to critically assess approaches to sex and gender in the Human Brain Project (HBP) as a large ICT project AQ: 1 case study using intersectionality. Design/methodology/approach – The strategy of the HBP is contextualised within the wider context of AQ: 2 the representation of women in ICT, and critically reflected upon from an intersectional standpoint. Findings – The policy underpinning the approach deployed by the HBP in response to these issues parallels Horizon 2020 wording and emphasises economic outcomes, productivity and value, which aligns with other “equality” initiatives influenced by neoliberalised versions of feminism. Research limitations/implications – Limitations include focussing on a single case study, the authors being funded as part of the Ethics and Society Subproject of the HBP, and the limited temporal period under consideration. Social implications – The frameworks underpinning the HBP approach to sex and gender issues present risks with regard to the further entrenchment of present disparities in the ICT sector, may fail to acknowledge systemic inequalities and biases and ignore the importance of intersectionality. Shortcomings of the approach employed by the HBP up to March, 2018 included aspects of each of these risks, and replicated problematic understandings of sex, gender and diversity. Originality/value – This paper is the first to use an intersectional approach to issues of sex and gender in the context of large-scale ICT research. Its value lies in raising awareness, opening a discursive space and presenting opportunities to consider and reflect upon potential, contextualised intersectional solutions to such issues.Item Open Access Introduction - technologies and European Integrations(Routledge, 2021) Ulnicane, IngaThis introductory chapter to the technology section provides an overview of complex relationships between technologies and European integrations. First, it highlights that in European integration literature the term ‘technology’ is often in multiple ways typically without explicit reflection on its meaning. While the term technology is frequently used in instrumental ways, this chapter emphasizes political, social, and cultural aspects of technology. Second, the chapter outlines three modes of European integration relevant for technology: first, ‘hidden integration’ of technology as infrastructure; second, integration outside the treaty framework, and, third, integration of technology policy within the EU. Finally, the chapter concludes with some questions for future research on mutual shaping of technologies and European integrations.Item Open Access New Horizons in the Europe of Knowledge(UACES, 2015-02-27) Chou, Meng-Hsuan; Ulnicane, IngaThis editorial introduces the notion of the Europe of Knowledge and places it in the European integration research agenda. We first describe what the concept means before suggesting how to approach the Europe of Knowledge as a new case for investigating European integration dynamics. This discussion revolves around the evolution of policy developments in research and higher education to show how knowledge policies are compound and manifest distinct dimensions of differentiated integration and experimentation, both fruitful theoretical research agendas. We then summarise the articles to show the respective Europe of Knowledge themes they highlight. We conclude by considering how the Europe of Knowledge in the making encourages testing established empirical and analytical assumptions about European integration and experimenting with emerging ideas about regional cooperation from around the world.