Artificial Intelligence/Operations Research Workshop 2 Report Out

This workshop Report Out focuses on the foundational elements of trustworthy AI and OR technology, and how to ensure all AI and OR systems implement these elements in their system designs. Four sessions on various topics within Trustworthy AI were held, these being Fairness, Explainable AI/Causality, Robustness/Privacy, and Human Alignment and Human-Computer Interaction. Following discussions of each of these topics, workshop participants also brainstormed challenge problems which require the collaboration of AI and OR researchers and will result in the integration of basic techniques from both fields to eventually benefit societal needs

New strategic approaches for implementing intelligent streetscape towards livable streets in City of Riyadh

Streetscape can be considered as a term “which can be used to clarify and explain the street's built-in and the basic structure, also it is known as the design of the visual appeal and quality of the street effect. A good tool for improving urban quality and establishing a feeling of place is design of streetscape. People's requirements for public areas have changed as internet usage has continued to expand.. The numbers of people who use cars has increased a lot in Riyadh city. In reality, this leads to some problems in a direct and an indirect way, such as car accidents, traffic overcrowding, lack of services for bicyclists and pedestrians, weak social relationships between the people, and high obesity levels. Reconsider design of streetscape in Riyadh city especially in the era of digital information technology will revitalize regions by providing reshaping the urban experience toward higher livability that respond to and connect with onlookers in order to increase understanding of onlookers' activities in the streets, promote their sense of place, and improve safety and livability in urban areas.. The presented study focuses on the qualitative approach that is according to the related theoretical exploration and research; so, this paper combines the design of streetscape with digital information technology, with new ideas of intelligent streetscape’s design for enhancing Riyadh city to make the user's life livable. The current paper ended with proposed strategic approaches and suggestions to enhance the city of Riyadh's streetscape style as an outcome of the theoretical research. Results indicated that streets, which contain a close combination with the resident’s daily life activities and the important consequences on their mental comfort, have not attracted any care in terms of academic research. This resulted in a failure in providing solid strategic approaches for intelligent design of streetscape in Riyadh city

Emerging approaches for data-driven innovation in Europe: Sandbox experiments on the governance of data and technology

Europe’s digital transformation of the economy and society is one of the priorities of the current Commission and is framed by the European strategy for data. This strategy aims at creating a single market for data through the establishment of a common European data space, based in turn on domain-specific data spaces in strategic sectors such as environment, agriculture, industry, health and transportation. Acknowledging the key role that emerging technologies and innovative approaches for data sharing and use can play to make European data spaces a reality, this document presents a set of experiments that explore emerging technologies and tools for data-driven innovation, and also deepen in the socio-technical factors and forces that occur in data-driven innovation. Experimental results shed some light in terms of lessons learned and practical recommendations towards the establishment of European data spaces

University and School Collaborations during a Pandemic

Based on twenty case studies of universities worldwide, and on a survey administered to leaders in 101 universities, this open access book shows that, amidst the significant challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, universities found ways to engage with schools to support them in sustaining educational opportunity. In doing so, they generated considerable innovation, which reinforced the integration of the research and outreach functions of the university. The evidence suggests that universities are indeed open systems, in interaction with their environment, able to discover changes that can influence them and to change in response to those changes. They are also able, in the success of their efforts to mitigate the educational impact of the pandemic, to create better futures, as the result of the innovations they can generate. This challenges the view of universities as “ivory towers” being isolated from the surrounding environment and detached from local problems. As they reached out to schools, universities not only generated clear and valuable innovations to sustain educational opportunity and to improve it, this process also contributed to transform internal university processes in ways that enhanced their own ability to deliver on the third mission of outreach

D3.6 - An interdisciplinary framework for comparisons and cross-fertilization strategies of MAZI pilots (version2)

[Executive summary] The 1st version of this deliverable focused on framing and carrying out exercises of self-reflection across all MAZI pilots, which aimed to gather comparable knowledge of the respective partner‘s visions and anticipation of the pilot activities. This allowed us to draw comparisons that proved valuable as a starting point for the cross-fertilisation events, in which multiple partners met with the goal to work on the interdisciplinary aspects of MAZI as a project. In this second version, we make one step further toward four directions: a) we analyze the material included in D3.2 and D3.5 in light of further developments and interactions toward comparing the individual perspectives of partners on key concepts such as DIY networking, as well as the different pilot studies; b) we describe and analyse the cross-fertilization events that took place during the first year and the initial lessons learned from the pilots; c) we try to capture the similarities and differences between the disciplinary perspectives of the academic partners; and d) we identify important tensions between research and action as they have manifested during the crossfertilization events of the first year. Based on this material, we propose certain enhancements of our interdisciplinary framework, i.e., the deconstruction of the pilot studies into their core elements, the placement of MAZI toolkit as a boundary object between different subsets of actors in MAZI, and two self-reflection exercises to be carried out in the following months and to be documented in the Deliverable D3.11

Japan’s science and technology diplomacy: society 5.0 and its international projection

Japan is the third largest economy on the planet but lacks coercive capacity due to Article 9 of its Constitution, which prevents it from having an army and declaring war. This means that it can only rely on persuasion to influence the international sphere and achieve its political objectives. One of the tools it has for this purpose is public diplomacy, which is diplomacy exercised through non-traditional means such as communication, art and culture. One branch of public diplomacy is science and technology diplomacy (S&T Diplomacy), which consists of collaboration in these areas with other nations to strengthen their international projection, as well as the dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology transfer between nations. S&T diplomacy has become a major focus for Japan of its diplomatic action since it launched the Society 5.0 project in 2016, which sought to revolutionize Japan’s economy, society and governance through technology. This S&T diplomacy has the potential to not only strengthen Japan’s external action, but also to transform its industries and research while it is transforming the infrastructures of Japan’s partner nations, like the construction of subway and high-speed rail networks in India. This article will first analyze the theoretical framework of public diplomacy and science and technology diplomacy. Next, Japan’s public diplomacy will be studied by comparing The Soft Power 30 and Global Soft Power Index. Finally, Japanese science and technology diplomacy will be analyzed by assessing the initiatives contained in the Japanese Society 5.0 project

Japan’s Science and Technology Diplomacy: Society 5.0 and its International Projection

Japan is the third largest economy on the planet but lacks coercive capacity due to Article 9 of its Constitution, which prevents it from having an army and declaring war. This means that it can only rely on persuasion to influence the international sphere and achieve its political objectives. One of the tools it has for this purpose is public diplomacy, which is diplomacy exercised through non-traditional means such as communication, art and culture. One branch of public diplomacy is science and technology diplomacy (S&T Diplomacy), which consists of collaboration in these areas with other nations to strengthen their international projection, as well as the dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology transfer between nations. S&T diplomacy has become a major focus for Japan of its diplomatic action since it launched the Society 5.0 project in 2016, which sought to revolutionize Japan’s economy, society and governance through technology. This S&T diplomacy has the potential to not only strengthen Japan’s external action, but also to transform its industries and research while it is transforming the infrastructures of Japan’s partner nations, like the construction of subway and high-speed rail networks in India. This article will first analyze the theoretical framework of public diplomacy and science and technology diplomacy. Next, Japan’s public diplomacy will be studied by comparing The Soft Power 30 and Global Soft Power Index. Finally, Japanese science and technology diplomacy will be analyzed by assessing the initiatives contained in the Japanese Society 5.0 project

Institutionalising smart city research and innovation: from fuzzy definitions to real-life experiments

By exploring and defining characteristics of a smart city research and innovation centre, we contribute to the discussion on smart city development capacity. To do so, using a qualitative method, we review definitions of the concept and map international groups and institutes affiliated with this domain. Our main result is an overview of global research centres dealing with smart cities. One of the key implications of this paper is that instead of a strict definition, the important aspect appears in the framing provided by the complex real-life challenges that require and enable cross-disciplinary research, even though the concept keeps evolving