Digital Literacy and free and competent access to digital services and infrastructure are prerequisites for the sovereign and self determined use of digital technologies. They are the basis for all
other of the Digital Responsibility Goals
Privacy as a European promise:
Privacy is part of human dignity and a prerequisite for digital selfdetermination. Protection of privacy – with a consistent purpose limitation and data economy – allows users to act confidently in the
digital world. Privacy by design and default enable responsible data usage. Users are given control and providers must account for how
they protect privacy.
“Trust by Design” – through trustworthy algorithms:
Once the data has been collected, it must be processed with the goal of trustworthiness. This is true for simple algorithms as well as for more complex systems up to autonomously acting systems (AI = Artificial Intelligence for example).
Cybersecurity as the crucial foundation and basis of secure digital technologies. Cybersecurity arms systems against compromise and manipulation by unauthorized persons and ensures the protection
of users and their data – from data collection to data utilization. It is a basic prerequisite for the responsible operation of digital solutions.
A new understanding of data and data fairness:
It‘s about fair competition. Non-personal data must also be protected and handled according to its value. At the same time, suitable mechanisms must be defined to make data exchangeable between parties and applicable. This is the only way to ensure balanced cooperation between diferent stakeholders in data ecosystems.
Openness and Transparency:
Making the difference. Proactive transparency for users and all other stakeholders as to which principles underlie digital products, services, and processes, as well as transparency on the digital
solution itself and its components, is created. Principled behavior is an important building block for building trust.
It‘s about each and every one of us. Even in the digital space, we must protect our identity and preserve human responsibility. Now. preserving the multi-faceted human identity is a prerequisite for any digital development. The resulting digital products, services, and processes are human-centered, inclusive, ethically sensitive, and sustainable, remaining in human care at all times. Only in this way can digital technology promote the well-being of humanity and have a sustainable impact.
In a world where market abuses and social injustices pose a significant threat to consumer rights, both in the physical and virtual worlds, initiatives that establish trust in a data-driven food system have become increasingly critical. The EU-funded DRG4FOOD project aims to create a data-driven food system that inspires trust throughout the food chain. In the next three years, DRG4FOOD will test use cases (i.e., concrete scenarios on how data might be used) in the areas of personalised nutrition and food traceability.
DRG4FOOD will launch two open calls for funding in September 2023 and Spring 2024 for a total of €1.9 million. The funding will be available to research groups, start-ups, SMEs and innovators who are interested in implementing dedicated tools and applications regarding the DRGs while receiving training and support to scale them up.
The project works closely with FOODITY, another project that is running in parallel, to launch open calls for funding other possible data applications in the food sector and maximise the projects’ impact.
Expected outcomes
DRG4FOOD comes with five clear objectives and is set to generate a row of important outcomes and impacts.
The project´s five clear objectives are:
Developing a new paradigm for successful data-driven food applications – principle-based around openness, user-centricity, sovereignty, and trust (from ideation to operation)
Developing a roadmap to a new data-driven food system around openness, sovereignty, fairness and trust
Developing human-centric, decentralized, and trustworthy electronic food system technology enablers made up of baseline technologies
Demonstrating new services and applications within virtual food system
Selecting and engaging at least 10 third-party pilots through two DRG4Food Open Calls
The project will deliver important outputs:
DRG4Food strategic roadmap for a digitally enhanced food system guided by digital responsibility goals.
10-15 DRG4Food technological enablers, based on following technologies: Decentralized identities, Disposable identities, Blockchain, Distributed ledger technology, Verifiable credentials, Zero-knowledge proofs.
A portfolio of at least 10 third party solutions funded through two DRG4Food Open Calls
DRG4Food acceleration program model.
At least ten successful approaches and tools demonstrated/piloted by the consortium.
A minimum of five publications.
Vibrant and innovative tech community of SMEs/academia/innovators and clusters created through 3rd party calls and DRG4Food enablers co-development processes.
Consortium
“As a consortium, we believe that technology is not an end in itself but acts as an empowering enabler. The practical implementation of digital responsible tools can enable new levels of innovation in many areas of the food sector, such as food safety, sustainability, reduction of food waste and fair conditions throughout the entire food chain.” – Kai Hermsen, DRG4FOOD coordinator
Ethics Advisory Board
What is the Ethics Advisory Board?
The Ethics Advisory Board in DRG4FOOD is an assembly of six or more advisors both internal and external to the project. Being an innovative project that will explore the centrality of individuals in the food systems as well as the usage of Artificial Intelligence in the field, DRG4FOOD is set to raise ethical questions and identify eventual challenges. In this regard, the Ethics Advisory Board will act as a point of analysis of the project’s progress and implementation against the backdrop of relevant regulatory texts as well as the applicable best practices.
What is the Ethics Advisory Board’s role?
The Ethics Advisory Board will take up a support role that translates into opinions and feedback on the ethical aspects of the project’s overall progress. The Board is set to assemble regularly in order to ensure that the project is progressing with alignment with the best practices enshrined in several texts, such as the GDPR, the European Commission’s “Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI”, and the Guidance Note of Ethics and Data Protection. The Board will take up a proactive role and will be able to identify, review and analyse selected deliverables that would be produced during the DRG4FOOD’s lifespan.
Adriana Minovic
Adriana Minovic is Director of Compliance and DPO in Betsson Group. She is a lawyer, specialised in various regulatory & compliance issues, specifically Data Protection/Intellectual Property/Competition and Internet Governance in a wide portfolio of innovative and data-driven industries (TMT, R&D, Life Science, Aviation, Online gambling). Adriana acts as the External Independent Ethics Advisor in the project.
Ashwinee Kumar
Ashwinee Kumar is a senior researcher and PhD candidate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His doctoral research focuses on the Interoperability of health data, from the data protection laws point of view, and the upcoming EHDS, Digital Governance Act, and Interoperable Europe Act. He has experience of performing data protection, privacy, and ethical impact assessments of smart medical devices, smart wearables and textiles, UAVs, and chain-of-custody based on the Blockchain. He is currently working on the EU projects INTREPID and ARC II.
Kai Hermsen
Kai Hermsen is a “trust in tech” activist. He is currently building the "twinds foundation" concerned with establishing open-source "disposable identities" as a key technical enabler for building trust online. Concretely, he is leading the DRG4FOOD Horizon project as the coordinator, establishing data-enabled food systems while being based on data rights for citizens. As a father of two, he is passionate about finding balance in life to enable the best work and most rewarding personal lives.
Kossay Talmoudi
Kossay Talmoudi is a privacy professional working with our consortium member Privanova as a Data Protection Project Manager. With an academic background in European Law and Human Rights, Kossay has experience advising several Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe project consortia on GDPR compliance, Ethics Compliance and Data Management.
Claudia Zaoni
Claudia Zaoni is a researcher at the ENEA Biotechnology and Agroindustry Division, holding a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and a second PhD in Agriculture, Food and Environment. She conducts R&D activities on Reference Materials and Methods; measurement uncertainty; food quality, safety, and traceability; sustainability of agrifood systems; and chemical risk assessment. Awarded with the Premio Leonardo UGIS for “research and its communication” in 2014. She is the Coordinator of the Research Infrastructure METROFOOD-RI – Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition, included in the ESFRI Roadmap for the Domain Health and Food.
Raquel Carro
Raquel Carro is a European Project Manager at AUSTRALO. She has an academic background in Political Science and holds master’s degrees in both European Studies and Innovation Management. She has more than 10 years of experience successfully managing EU projects funded by Innovation and Research Programmes and is specialized in an array of domains including Financial Support to Third Parties and Project Communication. Raquel works in DRG4FOOD’s sister project FOODITY and her contribution to the EAB reinforces the cooperation between the two project.
