The project ‘DIGrenz – Potentials and Borders of Digitalization within Asylum Procedures’ focuses on the question if and how asylum procedures can be improved through the use of digital technologies.

One of these technologies in question is the voice analysis tool ‘voice biometrics’, which is being used to assist in the determination of a person’s country of origin. However, using such measures raises important fundamental rights issues, as asylum procedures are highly sensitive. A wrong decision – with or without the use of digital measures – may be life-threatening for the person involved. Thus, the project analyses the potentials and disadvantages of digital technologies in asylum procedures from a legal perspective, focusing esp. on constitutional aspects.

The project ‘DIGrenz’ was chosen out of 32 projects as part of the call on ‘Unconventional Research, Opening up new areas for digital technologies’ and is part of the Field of Excellence ‘Smart Regulation’ which focuses, among others, on the regulation of technological innovations. ‘DIGrenz’ is led by Prof. Iris Eisenberger and Prof. Klaus Poier from the Institute of Public Law and Political Science.

From the Department Eisenberger, Nikolaus Poechhacker and Marla Meilinger are involved in the project.

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What makes expert knowledge credible, legitimate, and reliable for use in public policy?

Professor Iris Eisenberger and her team at the Institute of Public Law and Political Science are participating in a comparative study of expertise for policy in the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Led by Stephen Hilgartner, Cornell University, and Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard University, scholars of 10 countries will conduct a comparative analysis on the relationship between expertise and trust.

Project Meeting 

On 29 October 2020, the international consortium of the research project met for one of its regular online meetings to compare and discuss the measures taken so far against the spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the world.

The Austrian case study is carried out by Professor Iris Eisenberger, Thomas Buocz and Nikolaus Poechhacker (University of Graz), together with the team of Professor Ulrike Felt (University of Vienna).

Many case study presentations had to be updated and revised in the last minute, e.g. because some national governments imposed renewed lockdowns. This shows the high dynamic of the corona situation.

On behalf of the Austrian team, Ulrike Felt reported on the historical development of infection incidence, testing strategy in Austria the legal and political controversies analysed by the team.

From a legal point of view, it could be seen that restrictive measures, such as restrictions to public space or to enter stores, brought freedom rights into the center of attention. On the contrary, the loosening of measures brought issues of equal treatment into the spotlight.

With regard to the rule of law, it was mainly the insufficient record keeping of the competent Federal Minister that led to the Constitutional Court (VfGH) declaring that some measures against COVID-19 from spring 2020 had been unlawful.

Presentation of Austrian Case Study

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Lead by Iris Eisenberger, REASON traces to which extent political decision makers used statistical models to support measures in connection with the COVID-19 crisis in Austria. Based on these insights, REASON examines which legal requirements for statistical models can be derived from the constitutional principles of democracy, the rule of law, and the liberal state. The results will be used to formulate legal policy proposals that successfully combine the innovative potential of statistical modelling with the requirements of the Austrian constitution.

From the Department Eisenberger Magdalena Nemeth, Nikolaus Poechhacker, Annemarie Hofer, Aljoscha Puber and Katharina König are involved in the project.

REASON is part of the Field of Excellence “Smart Regulation” at the University of Graz, which explores topics related to technical innovation.

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focuses on the ethical, social, political and legal challenges that arise through the integration of Embodied Artificial Intelligence into healthcare and society. As concrete use-cases, the project looks at a service robot named GARMI and a “smart” arm exoprosthesis .

The project is part of the transdisciplinary consortium “Digitalization”, which explores questions of the digital transition in economy and work, politics and society, as well as media and public communication. The consortium is funded by the Bavarian Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

The project is jointly led by Prof. Dr. Alena Buyx, Prof. Dr. Sami Haddadin and Prof. Dr. Ruth Müller (all TU Munich). Prof. Dr. Iris Eisenberger is involved as an international expert on a consulting base due to her expertise on legal issues related to artificial intelligence.

You can find further information on the project here: https://www.mcts.tum.de/research/rrai/

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What does “co-creating innovation” mean? How can we scale up co-creation in a socially robust way? And what can policy makers do to promote responsible innovation throughout Europe? These are the questions we are addressing in the Horizon 2020 project “SCALINGS“.

We question “one-size-fits-all” solutions for social challenges. Instead, we seek to promote innovative practices that consider the social, cultural and regulatory context in which they are embedded.

 But what exactly is co-creation? And what does “scaling up” mean?

Co-creation describes the joint creation process of several  people or groups, e.g. a collaboration between companies, universities, political decision makers and citizens. A typical “co-creation innovation process” may involve members of a start-up company deciding to develop an innovative product, e.g.  a 2-Line Power Kite, new LEGO-Creations or Smart-Home products. A university then shares her resources with the creators. Additionally, end users are invited to participate in the creation process.

“Scaling” means to change something in size; “scaling up” therefore describes the enlargement of something. In terms of co-creation “scaling up” means, that models that have worked well in one place (e.g. a test track in rural Hungary) should also be implemented elsewhere (e.g. a large city like Wrocław).

However, co-creation processes are always dependent on their specific conditions and therefore cannot be enlarged at will. What works out well in Leoben doesn’t necessarily have to be useful in London. Nonetheless, there are certain factors that successful co-creation projects have in common. SCALINGS attempts to identify these success factors so that the co-creation processes also work when they are used at larger scale.

How do we do that?

The project consists of ten partner institutions from nine European countries. These include the Technical University Munich (DE), the Eindhoven University of Technology (NL), the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business (PL) or the Imperial College London (UK).

37 experts from different disciplines, such as Science and Technology Studies (STS), Anthropology, Philosophy and Law are investigating different instruments of co-creation. The focus lies within co-creation in the fields of robotics, urban energy and autonomous driving. The interdisciplinary composition of the team gives us the opportunity to look at complicated problems from different angles.

So, what is our goal?

SCALINGS is aimed at citizens, political decision makers and companies.

Citizens should be given the necessary tools to independently initiate and implement co-creation processes. Political decision makers are supported in the EU-wide implementation of framework conditions for co-creation by our policy roadmap. Industry and companies can benefit from the toolkit for successful co-creation.

The SCALINGS—team at the University of Graz focuses on the legal requirements for co-creation in Europe. Currently it consists of Professor Iris Eisenberger, Mag. Thomas Buocz and DI Annemarie Hofer.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement 788359.

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