This project aims to develop economically based terminology and conceptualizations as well as a sound understanding of digital markets and their regulation in order to propose key values for a Swiss digital policy with a focus on data policy. The resulting framework for analyzing the origins and effects of challenges in digital policy from an economic perspective will then be applied to current political and regulatory initiatives in Switzerland and the EU. Recommendations are derived from this.
For this Factory Update called “Ethical EOF” we invited Sylvain from Prof. Carmela Troncoso’s SPRING lab. He gave us an introduction to “Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)”. We learnt how it can be used in privacy-preserving technologies (PET). Sylvain presented a use case to us which is federated learning. As FHE allows for performing data analysis (…)
[En] A new EPFL developed tool, Quotebank, has helped researchers provide the first large-scale data-driven evidence of a drastic shift towards a more negative political tone beginning at the start of Donald Trump’s primary campaign in June 2015.
The advent of digitalization has profoundly transformed societal and economic structures by reshaping traditional value chains into digital platform-driven networks, impacting various sectors, including public services in Switzerland. This project aims to examine the influence of digital platforms on Swiss public services and proposes recommendations for a digital policy.
On October 4th, C4DT brought together 20 stakeholders from the Swiss service public sector, administration, politics, civil society and academia to discuss the relationship between digital platforms and traditional physical public services. The goal was to explore the need for action, room for maneuver, and potential initiatives to develop recommendations for the formulation of a (…)
2023-2024 C4DT Digital Trust Policy Fellows Leonila Guglya Leonila holds a Ph.D in International Trade Law (University of Geneva, 2017) and an SJD in International Arbitration (Central European University, 2010). Leonila is a counsel of the International Trade / WTO Law Practice of SwissLegal Rouiller et Associés in Geneva and has worked with several international (…)
This website collects several ressources for technology policy paper writing. This collection is not exhaustive but periodically updated. What is a Policy Paper? Very succinctly and a bit simplified put: A policy paper is a concise summary of what is known about a particular issue or problem and what political actions are recommended to address (…)
Part of the work of the C4DT Factory is the creation of demonstrators (proof of concepts) of technology coming out of the EPFL/IC labs. After two years we archive them and provide you with the means to easily run the demo on your computer instead. That way the demo remains accessible to you and you (…)
As part of our work on the digital public service in Switzerland, we have written an initial working paper in which we focused in particular on the question of the future of the traditional service public in the context of progressive platformization.
The C4DT Embassy is facilitating collaboration through workshops and events. It helps partners sharing insights and exchanging knowledge. It connects ideas, people, organizations, and scientific domains. It promotes C4DT and its partners.
“My computer architecture research intersects with security” – EPFL student Atri Bhattacharyya has won a prestigious Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship Europe for research in the fields of AI and cybersecurity.
The Moroccan Minister of Digital Transition and Administration Reform and EPFL laureate (Alumni Award 2023), Dr Ghita Mezzour, will detail the means implemented by the Moroccan government in order to take advantage of its potential with the aim of becoming an essential destination for investment and digital production.
Julia Rebstein, a student from the GymInf program, just finished and presented her project “Trace(r)s on the web – Julia Rebstein“. She explains how different types of cookies fonction, and looks at a 1-week sample of browsing sessions from 10 persons. Under the supervision of Linus Gasser and Sandra Siby, Julia put together a simple (…)
Julia Rebstein, a student from the GymInf program, just finished and presented her project “Trace(r)s on the web – Julia Rebstein“. In it, she explains how different types of cookies work, and looks at a 1-week sample of browsing sessions from 10 persons. Under the supervision of Linus Gasser and Sandra Siby, Julia put together (…)
Are the recently adopted (or still negotiated) international rules regulating the development, (crossborder) sales, marketing, and use of software in the best interest of technologists and the tech industry? In this issue brief, C4DT Digital Trust Policy Fellow Leonila Guglya critically examines international digital product regulations that are of key relevance to the ICT community, (…)
By Imad Aad, Technical Project Manager, C4DT *This blog post has been written as part of the Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behavior in Cyberspace. Everyone can develop software, and the resulting quality can vary considerably. There is no single ‘right way’ to write code and reach a given goal. Numerous technologies exist with increasing (…)
In this book lawyer Jamie Susskind addresses the issue of the unaccountable power exerted by Big Tech. Susskind problematizes the fundamental challenges that the engineers who design and control digital technology pose to democratic power and legitimacy.
Susskind, J. (2022). The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st Century. London: Bloomsbury, 464 pages. By Melanie Kolbe-Guyot Jamie Susskind’s book, “The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st Century (Bloomsbury 2022), addresses the issue of the unaccountable, hence undemocratic, power exerted by Big Tech. A lawyer and former research (…)
Development in research is very different from development in an industrial context. Many popular DevOps tools can nonetheless be effectively used in research development as well. Docker, an open-source containerization platform, is one such a tool. This blog post shows how Docker can help you develop the software needed for your research, and gives some ideas on how to integrate it in your day-to-day workflow.
This book provides and excellent analysis of how digital platforms have become so powerful and so pervasive that they have by now permeated every corner of society and social life to the point that they determine, at least in part, the way society operates.
Van Dijck, J., Poell, T. and M. de Waal (2018). The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 226 pages. By Matthias Finger This book is already five years old and probably older if one considers the time of writing, an eternity when it comes to rapidly evolving digitalization. Yet, (…)
Cars are becoming a crucial battleground for cyber attacks, epitomised by the move towards electrical vehicles (EV)
and autonomous driving. To increase the knowledge and expertise held in Switzerland in this area, the CYD Campus
is planning a one-week hackathon in October 2023 for stakeholders, researchers, and students. The CYD Campus
will provide a range of automobile platforms including software, electronic control units (ECUs) and several cars for
extensive testing and training during this week.
September 13th, 2023, Starling Hotel, St.-Sulpice Overview The concept of digital sovereignty gains increasing traction in political discourses across Europe, including in Switzerland. Digital sovereignty is referred to when speaking about AI development, cloud computing, data and data spaces, hard- and software development, the provision of digital services and platforms, to name but a few (…)
