Partners

HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO

The University of Helsinki (UH) is the oldest and largest institution of academic education in Finland, an international scientific community of 40,000 students and researchers. The University of Helsinki is also one of the best multidisciplinary research universities in the world and it consistently ranks in the top 120 of international university rankings. The University of Helsinki seeks solutions for global challenges and creates new ways of thinking for the best of humanity. Since 1640, UH has contributed to the establishment of a fair and equal society that is considered the best in the world according to a number of indicators. The strategic plan is founded on the University’s shared values of truth, Bildung, freedom and inclusivity, which steer the University community's everyday activities and interaction.

The University of Helsinki employs approximately 8300 people of which 58% are teachers and researchers. The high-quality research carried out by the university creates new knowledge for educating diverse specialists in various fields, and for utilisation in social decision-making and the business sector. University of Helsinki researchers produce around 11 100 publications per year. Of peer-reviewed academic publications 56% are produced as a result of international cooperation.

University of Helsinki belongs to several international networks, one of them being Una Europa, a European Universities Alliance funded by the European Commission. In addition, UH is the only Finnish university to be a member of the League of European Research Universities, or LERU, an association of 24 leading European universities promoting the conditions and opportunities for basic research in Europe. Since 2014, UH has participated in approximately 100 Erasmus+ funded projects. During the current Erasmus+ period of 2021-2027, UH is participating in over 25 Erasmus+ funded project. A full list of Erasmus+ projects at UH is available at https://www.helsinki.fi/en/innovations-and-cooperation/internationalcooperation/international-research-training-cooperation/international-education-projects.

Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH)

Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) promotes the renewal of content and methodology in the research fields in social sciences and humanities, with a special emphasis on the challenges of the rapidly emerging data-intensive society. The institute also supports multidisciplinary and inspiring research collaboration between research groups of SSH faculties of the University of Helsinki and with partners outside the university.

RADAR

RADAR is a high-rank research group which is in active collaboration, correspondence and research exchange with the top researchers in the world working on the topic on RADAR’s research agenda, so one central profile among collaborators is that of a professor in philosophy and ethics or in computer science, others are younger researchers in the field, PhD student and students. RADAR's professors/researchers also practice public engagement in the case of which the “learners” are people working in public institutions such as ministries or other state offices.

RADAR has been engaged in research of ethical issues related to social robotics, AI and datafication for 5 years, and the PIs Raul Hakli and Pekka Mäkelä for roughly 10 years. They have organized meetings (e.g. Robophilosopohy 2022), run empirical experiment together with researchers in Aarhus University, publish, participate in international conferences and workshops on the relevant topics actively, and supervise Ph D students on the topics on RADAR’s research agenda (see: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/robophilosophy-ai-ethics-and-datafication).

They also teach courses related to ethics of AI and have participated in the development of a MOOC “AI in Society” (UnaEuropa, https://www.una-europa.eu/study/mooc-ai-society).

Raul Hakli (male)

University researcher, Co-PI of RADAR group. He obtained a PhD in theoretical philosophy in 2010 and a title of docent in practical philosophy in 2020, both from University of Helsinki. He also has a MSc degree in computer science (1997) from University of Helsinki. He has worked on epistemology, logic, social ontology, and philosophy of action. He spent his post doc period (2013-2015) in Aarhus University, Denmark, in the research group led by Johanna Seibt studying what was to be called robophilosophy. During that period he applied his ideas in social ontology and collective intentionality to philosophical problems of social robotics and human-robot interaction. He was also one of the organizers of the first Robophilosophy conference in 2014. After his return to Helsinki, he started collaborating on these themes with Pekka Mäkelä and eventually with others, thereby forming the RADAR group. Presently, he is co-leader of the RADAR group together with Pekka Mäkelä.

Pekka Mäkelä (male)

Research coordinator and vice-director of HSSH-Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, co-leader of the RADAR group together with Raul Hakli. PI Academy of Finland project Ethical Risks and Responsibility of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, grant 09/2020-08/2024, PI Trust and Value Sensitive Design - REPAIR, a project funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established by the Academy of Finland.

Kamil Mamak (male)

University researcher, Co-PI of RADAR group.

TALLINNA TEHNIKAULIKOOL

Founded in 1918, TalTech (www.taltech.ee) is one of the largest and at the same time the only technological university in Estonia. This is the place where synergy between different fields (technological, natural, exact, social and health sciences) is established. The university offers a wide variety of educational degree programmes in the bachelor, master and doctoral level for both local and foreign students. With its four faculties, four colleges, R&D institutions, ca 14 500 students, from whom 1000 are foreign students, TalTech is a national university of technology, internationally renowned as a reliable partner at different levels of collaboration networks.

TalTEch is a research university where discoveries are transferred into teaching and studies and real life through knowledge. TalTEch has cooperation projects with the top 10 universities (Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, etc.), scientists and companies (e.g. Microsoft, Google, IBM, ABB, etc.) of the world. TalTEch also has a representative office in Silicon Valley, USA. TalTEch Mektory (an innovation platform supporting the master‘s students and doctoral students and business coherence, develops students into active experts in their field and provides experience for commencing employment) operates in the field of design and product development, start-up consultation, mobile services and media and business models. In 2013, TalTEch was ranked first amongst the Baltic universities, according to the QS World University Rankings.

TalTech Law School (TLS)

TalTech Law School (TLS) is a unit in the School of Business and Governance, where strong focus is on social aspects of digital technologies, offering academic programs and conducting high-impact research in fields, such as technology governance and digital transformation, public sector innovation and e-governance, and law and technology.

TLS, the unit responsible for this project, has become increasingly engaged with law and technology research and teaching. Tallinn Law School has been successful in receiving research and development funding from European Commission, Folke Bernadotte Academy, USAID, Estonian Government (Development Aid projects in EaP countries). Its researchers have been involved in various international projects related to interdisciplinary field of law and technology, providing masterclasses in EU law and policies, modern technologies, regulatory agencies and TLS staff has provided services for World Bank, European Commission, NATO, OSCE, Council of Europe, GIZ, Estonian Supreme Court etc. In addition, TLS has acquired research funding from Estonian Research Council (assessment of Estonian e-government services), Ministry of Finance (analysis of accountancy directive), Ministry of Social Affairs (human rights related activities), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (e-governance in Moldavian Republic). TLS was also leading the research group on analysing the legal framework for self-driving delivery robots and regularly engages in legal assessment of new technological solutions.

Besides teaching and legal research, the law school participates in key debates, both nationally and internationally. It involves itself with the media, engages with NGOs, works with Estonian high schools in European Union Law studies, and collaborates nationally on the e-governance Academy. In addition to this, TLS staff have extensively published on legal aspects of digital technologies, including E-governance, e-residency, cyber security, artificial intelligence, smart contracts and Digital Single Market of the EU. The programmes and research activities of TLS have been accredited positively by the Government Agency (with the assistance of foreign independent experts).

Key Researchers

Prof. David Ramiro Troitiño (male)

Prof. David Ramiro Troitiño holds a Jean Monnet Chair on Digital development of the European Union and is the deputy director of the Jean Monnet Network on E-Governance and digital development. In addition, he is Senior Researcher on EU politics Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and European Union specialist in Turku University (Finland). Currently he is deputy director of 4 international projects, Digital Europe and Future Integration (jean Monnet Chair), Legal and Regulatory Governance of Artificial Intelligence Systems (Jean Monnet Module), Baltic Chain (Europe for Citizens) and e-governance and digital transformation in the European Union (Jean Monnet Network).

Dr. Viktoria Mazur (female)

Dr. Viktoria Mazur is a Postdoc researcher at TalTech Department of Law. Her main interests are ethics-digital solutions for public sector. She he acted as a project manager for 20+ EC-funded Tempus and Erasmus+ projects especially in secure and resilient ICT systems.

UNIVERSITEIT GENT

Ghent University was established in 1817 and has 11 faculties, which offer high quality and research-based educational programmes. Ghent University is a pluralistic university open to all. The credo of the institution is ‘Dare to Think’, challenging everyone to question conventional views and dare to take a nuanced point of view.

Currently there are about 15 000 staff members and over 50 000 students at Ghent University. Approximately 15% of the student population is international. Ghent University encourages each of them to seek personal growth and rewards its students and staff for what they set in motion.

Ghent University is a research-intensive university which invests in fundamental and applied and demand-driven research, and has built up a solid scientific reputation over the years. In various international rankings (n° 83 in the Shanghai ranking and n° 115 in the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking), Ghent University is considered among the 'world class universities' and has been at the forefront of the implementation of all European higher education funding programmes since the start of the Erasmus programme. The Erasmus mobility was recognised as a “success story” by the European Commission and UGent obtained the ECTS label from the very beginning.

Since the start of the Erasmus+ programme (2014), UGent is involved in 108 KA2 and KA3 Erasmus+ projects (16 as coordinator), 6 Jean Monnet Activities, 4 Sport projects and 16 Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (8 as coordinator). In 2023, the European University ENLIGHT was re-selected for funding. This project is coordinated by UGent and composed of 10 comprehensive, research-intensive universities from 10 European countries. In addition to participation in the Erasmus+ programme, UGent is also involved in education projects under other funding frameworks such as EIT-KICs or Digital Europe. The International Relations Office provides guidance and support in the application and implementation phase of EU-funded education projects.

Apart from educational projects, Ghent University is active in many research projects (Horizon Europe), and in a number of collaborative development projects, financed by both national (VLIR: Flemish Interuniversity Council, DGDC, BTC) and international organisations (UNESCO etc).

For Ghent University internationalisation offers important opportunities to enhance the quality of its education, research and services to society. It aims to achieve greater international visibility and competitiveness, as well as to contribute to the development of external policies (Flemish, Belgian and European) in the field of international cooperation.

Ghent University has a strong tradition in applied ethics and moral philosophy. Confronted with the challenges of digitalisation, AI and big data in healthcare, UGent invested in a strategic consortium, Metamedica, spanning three faculties (Medicine and Health Sciences, Law and Criminology and Arts and Philosophy) to build and gather expertise in medical ethics, health law and health privacy law in the face of these challenges. It was launched in 2020 and aims to generate impact through research, education and societal outreach. The consortium currently has several ongoing research projects involving AI in healthcare (including an ERC StG). While we are already translating this research into our teaching in the three faculties on an ad hoc basis, this grant would allow us to develop a more structured and lasting resource for education into the ethics of AI in healthcare for our own students, but also for practicing healthcare professionals and computer scientists.

Key Individuals

Prof. Heidi Mertes (female), Associate professor in Medical Ethics, with focus on new innovations in healthcare (faculty of Arts & Philosophy and faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences).

Tom Goffin (male), Assistant prof in Health Law, with focus on patient rights (faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and faculty of Law and Criminology).

Griet Verhenneman (female), Assistant prof in Health Privacy Law, with focus on health data protection (faculty of Law and Criminology).

Sigrid Sterckx (female), Full professor in Ethics and Political and Social Philosophy, with on-going projects on big data and AI in healthcare (faculty of Arts and Philosophy).

Seppe Segers (male) Professor in Ethics and Moral Sciences, with research experience on the ethics of AI in healthcare (faculty of Arts and Philosophy).

UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO

The University of Porto (U.Porto) stands as a prominent institution for Higher Education and Scientific Research in Portugal, being recognized among the top 100 universities in Europe and the top 350 globally, according to leading international ranking systems such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking) and QS World University Rankings 2023. In the latter, it holds the position of the #1 Portuguese Higher Education Institution, securing its place within the 17% of the world's best universities. U.Porto distinguishes itself through exceptional education tailored to individual talents, market needs, and its role as a leading hub for scientific advancements in Portugal. The university takes pride in contributing to 23% of Portuguese scientific articles in the ISI Web of Science. With 14 faculties, a business school, and 48 research units, 90% of which receive an evaluation of "Excellent" or "Very Good," U.Porto offers a comprehensive range of courses at all levels, boasting an impressive employability rate exceeding 80%. The university fosters a vibrant academic community, bringing together top-performing students, a highly skilled faculty, and an increasing international presence. Statistics show a student body of over 36 thousand, with 18% being international, accompanied by more than 3,600 academics and researchers, and over 1,700 administrative staff. U.Porto is committed to openness to the community and business, actively contributing to economic, social, cultural, and scientific progress in Northern Portugal and beyond. The university plays a pivotal role in translating concepts into tangible outcomes, including the establishment of start-ups and the creation of thousands of jobs. With a focus on sustainability and inclusivity, U.Porto ranks 299th globally (139th in Europe) in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability. It has launched the first Gender Equality Plan under the RESET project, addressing gender biases and various dimensions of diversity.

As the most internationally engaged among Portugal's universities, U.Porto collaborates with hundreds of Higher Education Institutions worldwide. With over 6,600 international students from nearly 100 nationalities and more than 2,500 active agreements, internationalization is a key strategic pillar. The EUGLOH alliance, with the approval of the EUGLOH 2.0 application, has secured more than 14 million euros in funding and expanded with four new partners. Additionally, U.Porto has assumed the presidency of the European University Foundation and celebrated a "historic milestone" — the 10th anniversary of the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) project holding the label of “EWP Champion” in Portugal. U.Porto's strong capacity to attract Erasmus+ projects has been instrumental in enhancing internationalization efforts. Engaging in 250 Erasmus+ projects since 2014, the university has been contributing significantly to its global networks and education-focused initiatives.

Sofia Miguens (female) is Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. She was a Visiting Scholar at New York University, at the Institute Jean Nicod-Paris (2007-2008), and at the University of Sydney – Australia (2013), and a Visiting Professor at the University of Picardie (Amiens) (2017). At the University of Porto she has been Director of the Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral Programs in Philosophy, as well as Head of the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Research Unit (Institute of Philosophy). She is also the founder and Principal Investigator of MLAG, the Mind, Language and Action Group (Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto), where she has supervised a large number of doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers with Portuguese Research Agency FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) grants and often works as member of FCT committees. She is a former President of the Portuguese Philosophical Association, a member of the Scientific Committee for the Humanities and Social Sciences of FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and a member of the Scientific Committee of Novos Talentos Programme of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. She authored and edited more than 10 books (published with Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, etc.) on the topics of moral and political philosophy, philosophy of mind and language, epistemology and cognitive science.

Steven S. Gouveia (male) is a Research Fellow and Professor at Mind, Language and Action (MLAG) Group at the Institute of Philosophy (IP) of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. Since June 2023, he is an Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University Andrés Bello, Viña Del Mar, Chile. His main research is in the field of philosophy of technology, ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) and neurophilosophy. On these topics, he has published a number of articles in scientific journals and as author and editor 14 academic books (with Routledge, Palgrave or Bloomsbury), the most recent being “The Odyssey of the Mind" (2024); he has also organized a number of international conferences (e.g., International Conference on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, edition 2019, ed. 2023) and online teaching courses (https://stevensgouveia.weebly.com/online-courses.html) on the topics of ethics of AI. He is currently leading a six-year project on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine “(Rebuilding) Trust in (Black-Box) Algorithmic Decision-Making: the case of Medicine” (CEECIND.02527.2022) (cf. https://trustaimedicine.weebly.com/).

Romeu Ivolela (male) is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Philosophy (IP) of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. His research is in the field of Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Humanities with a specific focus on the impact of AI systems on human cognitive autonomy.

UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a renowned institution located in the vibrant city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. With a rich history dating back to 1632, it has evolved into one of Europe's leading research universities. Boasting a diverse student body of over 35,000 individuals from around the globe, UvA offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs across various disciplines. Renowned for its strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research and innovative teaching methods, the university fosters a dynamic academic environment conducive to critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. Its central location in Amsterdam provides students with unparalleled opportunities for cultural enrichment, professional development, and networking, making it an ideal destination for those seeking a truly enriching educational experience.

The Amsterdam Law School of the University of Amsterdam offers a wide variety of courses and has a strong international orientation. The Amsterdam Law School maintains strong ties with the corporate world and many staff members are also legal practitioners.

Law Center for Health and Life (LCHL), is an interdisciplinary center strives to understand how law, regulation and policy impact on health and in turn, how health, including environmental health and technological advances in the field of health, impacts law and policy. The center has +20 faculty staff, lectures, PhD and Post-doc researcher and research assistants working on various topics in the intersection of health law, bioethics and policy.

Law Center for Health and Life (LCHL) is involved in offering higher education to bachelor and master students in health law, bioethics and policy. One of the topic priorities of the centre in terms of research and education is on innovation in the context of healthcare and policy, with special focus on digitalisation of health and integration of AI approaches. In addition the research centre has a strong focus on the data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR) and their impact in the healthcare settings and biomedical research. The researchers affiliated with this center have already published various academic publications and reports on the aforementioned topics, and delivered keynotes and presentations on the national, European and International events on these topics.

Mahsa Shabani (female) is Associate Professor in Health Privacy Law and Innovation at the Law Center for Health and Life, University of Amsterdam (UvA). Previously, she was visiting scholar at the Center of Genomics and Policy at McGill University, the Center for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies (HeLEX) at University of Oxford, and the Columbia CEER at Columbia University Medical Center. Her research focus is on personal data protection, health privacy, data sharing, and data-driven biomedical research ethics, law and policy. She has extensively published her work in scientific journals with a broad readership in the fields of data protection, medical law, bioethics, and bioinformatics. She is currently (co-)PI of projects PROPHET (Horizon Europe), Crowd-scourced genetic data for research purposes (FWO), fairness in secondary uses of health data (BOF), and Smart glasses in primary care (TETRA).

James W. Hazel (male) is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Law Centre for Health and Life at the Amsterdam Law School, University of Amsterdam. His research explores the flow of genetic and other sensitive personal data within healthcare, research, and consumer ecosystems, with a recent focus on emerging artificial intelligence applications. He is broadly interested in the intersection of health and the law, exploring how established data-sharing policies and frameworks can responsibly adapt to technological advancements. He holds a law degree (J.D.) from Vanderbilt University Law School and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming.

The Way S.r.l. Società Benefit

The Way Srl Società Benefit (TW) is an incubator and accelerator founded in January 2023. Founders are seniors skilled in different fields and with experiences in entrepreneurship, academia, association, with a deep know-how of the territory and a relevant network all over the world. TW’s founders decided to formally create a company to combine their actions towards the start-up universe and open innovation to offer the market a single interlocutor that aims at the evolution process for the new ideas.

TW's mission is to support innovative ideas through high-skilled partners' knowledge, competences, training, innovation, technology, networks, and a current and feasible mindset, all of which is necessary to ensure sustainable and scalable development.

Over time, a local but above all national and international network has been built with companies, associations, and universities, offering the possibility of finding the best option for each different need we encounter. TW intends to respond to the local need for support to budding businesses and to the need for better-structured businesses to start innovation processes, to develop them, and bring them to the national and international market.

Big Data, IoT, and BlockChain. TW places a constant focus on people, even before the idea, in both cases our territory is very prolific.

TW provides support at different moments of the new idea's development:

• Business Strategy
• Sales Strategy
• Marketing
• Fund Sourcing
• Education and Training
• Networking & Contamination

Finally, TW is a physical and virtual space where ideas can meet each other and others talented people to support their development process. Despite being recently established, TheWay team has been working for a long time to support the development of entrepreneurial initiatives in central Italy and has helped the establishment and growth of some start-ups with important variations on AI and BlockChain technology in the Health industry. Ethics AI, Data Governance, AI Security, Real Estate, Leisure, Cybersecurity. TW is already partnering with several actors such as Università Politecnica delle Marche, Università degli Studi di Macerata, the Digital Innovation Hub in the Regione Marche, and more.

Sales is one of the main aspects of the life of any enterprise. It is not enough to be good at R&D innovation, but it is also fundamental to know how to bring this innovation to the field and make it useful for the market. This means that in the research process, a relevant aspect is also the innovation’s go-to-market strategy. TW has a skilled and experienced team on Sales and Marketing strategy, and this will support the project to provide the users with know-how, training, strategic support on how to implement the sales performance, especially through the new digital tools that are crucial to guarantee the success of any modern sales strategy.

TW will support the project through competences on technology, sales strategy, and education and will provide those skills to create content and training on the new sales criteria to improve the potential of the salespersons. TW will also be able to support the ongoing phase by supporting and measuring the results and working closely with salespersons to bring the sales innovation to the field.

Massimiliano di Paolo, Scientific background, Innovation manager, and training project expert. General manager at “Compagnia delle opere Marche Sud,” President of the Board at “Tecform Training Company” accredited by the Marche region. CEO of “Y2I Srl,” a company that deals with innovation in the Life Science sector with particular reference to training through new technologies. Co-founder & partner at The Way, sales strategy specialist, network manager.

Valerio Placidi, Humanistic background, serial entrepreneur, and specialist in start-up development. Skilled in business strategy, sales strategy, and marketing. Co-founder at The Way Srl and business development manager. Valerio has launched companies in different fields such as marketing, communication, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. Co-founder and partner at The Way, start-up business development specialist, business strategy, and sales specialist.

Luca Nardella, Administrative background. Entrepreneur and expert in business management. Vice president, with certified skills for the management of accredited training institutions CED Servizi training company founded in 1971. Co-founder and Board Member of Tecform, a company that provides training services financed with the European Social Fund. Co-founder and President of the GEA social cooperative, which provides home assistance and diagnostic services. Co-founder and President at The Way, specialist in education programs.

Andrea Giaconi, Management Engineer specialized in business strategy consulting. For over 10 years, he has been involved in fundraising for innovation and research projects. In 2018, he founded a start-up called UBISIVE, which develops AR/VR solutions. Co-founder & partner, fund sourcing, and facilitated finance manager.