Milk-ordering refrigerators, industrial machines authorized to make crucial production decisions or self-controlled vehicles: the smart revolution will change the different areas of our lives significantly. But how realistic are the promises of simplicity, efficiency and optimization, which are attached to these data-driven technologies? What impact will this development have on a democratic society, our work environments and our privacy?

At its annual conference, the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW) put the focus on a wide range of aspects. The 26 talks covered topics ranging from the internet of things and smart manufacturing to artificial intelligence, big data, smart energy and assistive technologies for the elderly.

“Our task here is to not blindly follow the hype”, ITA director Michael Nentwich pointed out in his opening address. Keynote-speaker Dirk Helbing (ETH Zurich) stressed the risks of increasing digitalization and data-mining for our democracy and societies in general: “We can decide how we want to use the tons of data available. We are already heading towards manipulation and privacy infringement. We could, however, also decide to upgrade on our freedom and our social experience.”

04.07.2016

Denise Riedlinger