Smart regulation for smart technologies

The project Disruptive technologies and rights-based resilience, supported by GSPI’s Impact Collaboration Programme (ICP), is well on its way!

In September 2021, the Geneva Academy, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights B-Tech Project, and the Centre for Democracy & Technology’s Europe Office co-organised a multi-stakeholder consultation that kick-started a round of interactive events which will bring together experts and policy actors over the next few months.

This consultative process aimed to highlight the necessity of a human rights-based approach to regulatory efforts in the technology sector. It allowed to collect expert perspectives on how the UN Human Rights B-Tech project can support states assess whether their regulatory initiatives directed at the technology sector align with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It was attended by business, academia, civil society and state representatives.

Thanks to the ICP grant, the process will build on the knowledge developed and synthesised in the Working Paper The Relevance of the Smart Mix of Measures for Artificial Intelligence – Assessing the Role of Regulation and the Need for Stronger Policy Coherence by the Geneva Academy. Aimed at policy-makers, the technology sector and all those working on the regulation of AI, the paper brings fresh insights on how current initiatives on the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could incorporate the protection and respect for human rights. The paper also calls on states to adopt a ‘smart mix’ of mandatory and voluntary measures to support their implementation and how this applies to the AI sector.

This GSPI-supported science-policy process will formally feed the development of a ‘UN Guiding Principles check’ tool (working title) which will provide states with a roadmap to assess their regulatory efforts across different policy domains relevant to technology.

Nicolas Seidler

Nicolas Seidler is the Executive Director of the Geneva Science-Policy Interface (GSPI), which was launched by the University of Geneva with the support of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2018. Backed by leading research institutions in Switzerland and Europe, the GSPI is an independent, neutral platform that leverages synergies between actors of the International Geneva ecosystem and an extensive network of researchers by facilitating connections, supporting collaborative processes and inspiring effective practices at the interface of science, policy and implementation. In his previous position as Senior Policy Advisor at the Internet Society, he developed an extensive network of collaboration and engagement with international organizations and NGOs in Geneva and abroad. In this position, he led the organization’s policy implementation in the fields of Digital Rights and the Internet of Things.

Nicolas obtained a Masters in International Relations from the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in 2007, and a Masters in Communication and Media Sciences from the University of Geneva in 2009.

All author posts

Other Activities:

All Activities

Nicolas Seidler

Other Activities:

Policies for Children’s Rights: Constructing an Evidence-Based Approach

Evidence-based Thinking, Challenges, and Strategies

Politics & Power in Evidence-based Policy