On 23 June 2023, ALLEA released the 2023 revised edition of “The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity” which takes account of the latest social, political, and technological developments, as well as trends emerging in the research landscape.

What might a world in which technologies like the metaverse or neuroimaging have reached their full potential look like? Would you be in favour of implementing these technologies? Or would you rather forge a completely different world?

This scientific paper published in Nanoethics dives into the question “Are digital subjects in virtual reality morally equivalent to human subjects?”.

Emerging technologiesTechnologies whose development and application are not completely realised or finished, and whose potential lies in the future. [...] challenge us to rethink the ways in which our fundamental rights as human beings are protected by law. What happens, for example, to the right to not self-incriminate if advanced neurotechnologies in the courtroom can provide insights into a defendant’s mental state?

Emerging technologies challenge us to rethink the ways in which our fundamental rights as human beings are protected by the law. For instance, how might digital extended reality (XR) affect online safety and the emerging rights to be online and to disconnect?

Emerging technologies challenge us to rethink the ways in which our fundamental rights as human beings are protected by law. For example, how do your rights as an individual stack up if your local environment is affected by climate engineeringTechEthos defines climate engineering as a technology family which enables the modification of natural processes [...] More activities aimed at addressing global climate change?

Emerging technologies challenge us to rethink the ways in which our fundamental rights as human beings are protected by law. Find out more about the human rights impact assessment carried out by TechEthos for its three emerging technology families: Climate Engineering, Neurotechnologies, and Digital Extended Reality.

Now at the halfway point of this three-year project, the TechEthos consortium is delighted to publish three sets of key findings that enhance our understanding of the implications of our three technology families.

TechEthos has established a cluster of 16 EU-funded projects, creating a platform to exchange, collaborate and create synergies together. On 4 March 2022, these 16 EU-funded projects came together for an online kick-off meeting to align on common goals and find ways to collaborate in the future.

We present more detail on the methodology used to select the TechEthos technologies of focus – the horizon scan.

Based on a wide-ranging horizon scanning of over 100 new and emerging technologies, TechEthos selected three families of technologies that are expected to have disruptive socio-economic and ethical implications which will now be the main focus point for the TechEthos project.

Anais Resseguier (Trilateral Research) reviews Kate Crawford’s 2021 book Atlas of AI for the journal AI and Ethics, as part of TechEthos’ work on Extended Digital Reality technology familyA technology family is a collection of technologies that share techniques that have common goals [...].

Ethics by DesignThe implementation of ethical, legal, and societal values [...] is an approach for ensuring that a technology or system is aligned with ethical values and principles.

TechEthos caught up with Lisa Diependaele, Policy Officer at the European Commission, to understand the European Commission’s vision in the field of the ethics of new and emerging technologies and the role we can play.