A Human-Centred and Ethical Development of Digital and Industrial Technologies (Horizon Europe)

As Europe sets off on its path to recovery towards a greener, digital and more resilient economy and society, the need to improve and adapt skills, knowledge and competences becomes all the more important. Developments in digital and enabling technologies have the potential to enhance social inclusion, can inform up-skilling training programmes and ensure a two-way engagement with society with regard to developing technologies.

The issue of trust has become central in the use of technologies, following revelations about the exploitation of personal data, large-scale cybersecurity and data breaches, and growing awareness of online disinformation. Trust requires in particular improving transparency. For the Internet, increasing trust requires new tools and services to ensure that GDPR is a reality for end-users. It is also an opportunity for Europe to re-gain presence on the consumer electronics market, by developing new interactive applications in various sectors with solutions meeting European values and requirements in terms of privacy and security.

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to a human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies, through a two-way engagement in the development of technologies, empowering end-users and workers, and supporting social innovation

What is the goal to be achieved?

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to:

• Increased inclusiveness, by supporting a human-centred approach to technology development that is aligned with European social and ethical values, as well as sustainability;
• Sustainable, high-quality jobs by targeting skills mismatches, the need to empower workers, and ethical considerations relating to technological progress

How can research and innovation contribute to achieving this goal?

Research and innovation actions under this Destination should provide a path to ensure autonomy for Europe in AI, leading the way in research, development and deployment of world-class technologies that are beneficial to humans individually, organisationally and societally, and that adheres to European values. Moreover, research and innovation should support the development of a trustworthy digital environment, built on a more resilient, sustainable, and decentralised internet, to empower end-users with more control over their data and their digital identity, and to enable new social and business models respecting European values

Research and innovation actions should contribute to the industrial leadership in eXtended Reality technologies and immersive environments, while ensuring the European values of privacy, ethics and inclusiveness. These actions should also comprise systemic approaches to encourage creativity and make the most of the technologies developed elsewhere within society and industry. They include testing ideas in local communities; support for IP, standardisation and industry-academia exchanges; art-driven design; and assessments of complex socio-economic systems.

Call topics for 2021

• Verifiable robustness, energy efficiency and transparency for Trustworthy AI: Scientific excellence boosting industrial competitiveness (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership)
• European coordination, awareness, standardisation & adoption of trustworthy European AI, Data and Robotics (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership)
• European Network of AI Excellence Centres: Pillars of the European AI lighthouse
• Tackling gender, race and other biases in AI
• AI to fight disinformation
• Trust & data sovereignty on the Internet
• Trustworthy open search and discovery
• Next Generation Internet community-building and outreach
• NGI International Collaboration - Transatlantic fellowship programme
• NGI Tech Review
• eXtended Reality Modelling
• eXtended Reality for All – Haptics
• eXtended Collaborative Telepresence (IA)
• Innovation for Media, including eXtended Reality
• eXtended Reality Ethics, Interoperability and Impact
• Awareness raising on Intellectual property (IP) management for European R&I
• Fostering standardisation to boost European industry's competitiveness
• Testing innovative solutions on local communities’ demand (
• Piloting a new industry-academia knowledge exchange focussing on companies’ needs
• Art-driven use experiments and design
• Support for transnational activities of National Contact Points in the thematic area of Digital
• Support for transnational activities of National Contact Points in the thematic area of Industry
• Support for transnational activities of National Contact Points in the thematic area of Space
• Workforce skills for industry 5.0

Call topics for 2022

• AI for human empowerment (AI, Data and Robotics Partnership)
• European Network of AI Excellence Centres: Expanding the European AI lighthouse
• Internet architecture and decentralised technologies
• Next Generation Safer Internet: Technologies to identify digital Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
• NGI International Collaboration - USA and Canada
• eXtended Reality Technologies
• eXtended Reality Learning - Engage and Interact