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Digital Ethics Officer certified training program for European Public Administration

Global programme: Erasmus+
Specific programme: Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training
Call: 2023
Project number: 2023-1-IT01-KA220-VET-000160330
Duration: 24 Months (10/1/2023 - 9/30/2025)
Project Manager: Roberta Lotti
UNINETTUNO Scientific Leader: Marco Breda
UNINETTUNO Project Manager: Serena Bernardini


Summary

Many studies conducted on European PAs have highlighted the need for basic knowledge of AI as well as for specific training and courses on AI and data ethics. In so far as many national and local PAs are innovating and digitalizing their operations, managing data and adopting AI applications, it is crucial to provide civil servants and managers, working on innovation and digitalization, with adequate skills and competencies to ensure ethical, compliance when dealing with data, to understand AI-related ethical, social and legal risks and to properly mitigate and govern them. DEO4PA intends to bring together VET and HE organisations, on the one hand, and PA managers and civil servants on the other, to co-develop a Proof of Concept of a training programme for Digital Ethics Officers, capable to oversee ethics in the digital services of PAs across Europe.

Description

Considering the fact that the upcoming European AI Act will classify many AI application in the PA as high risk, there is an urgent need for PAs to employ trained professionals to oversee the adoption of digital technologies while ensuring compliance with national laws and EU Regulations.

Curriculums on Digital Ethics are scarce and there is still no certified training available to the public sector for ethical, social and legal risk management when providing digital services to citizens. Many of the civil servants and managers working on innovation and digitalization projects in PAs are already technicians and engineers, but often lack the necessary skills to assess or guarantee ethical compliance. Given the variety of internal and external PA services enabled by digital and AI applications, a specialized, up-to-date vocational training programme is needed to provide a multidisciplinary and practical approach tailored to the needs of PA.

DEO4PA intends to take on this challenge and design and develop an example of a training programme for Digital Ethics Officers, capable to oversee ethics in the digital services of PAs across Europe. This project will allow Partner organizations to:

  1. amplify their impact at EU level by reaching target groups in other countries; 
  2. build on previous project results and co- design relevant answers to make their training programs more suitable to effectively respond to the expectations of individuals, labor market needs and the challenges of today’s society in the digital sector (cybersecurity, data management, AI discrimination, etc.); 
  3. certify their training through a standard process of recognition and validation of competences; 
  4. make the professional environment inside the organization more open to synergies with organizations from other fields or economic sectors and capable of working at EU/international level, including in future European projects.

Objectives

RAISE AWARENESS on the ethic use of digital technologies in the

PA INCREASE PA’S COMPETENCES on ethical governance of digitalization

STRENGTHEN NETWORK AND DISSEMINATION among VET and universities for digital ethics for PA


UNINETTUNO Role

Unnettuno is one of the project partner, leading the Work Package 3, dedicated to define the proof of concept of the Training and the certification of the course, specifically UNINETTUNO is taking care of the methodology for the the Proof of Concept, including KPI’s metrics, participant selection criteria, and so on; Uninettuno is also contributing to all the certification of the training and certification activity and it is contributing to the implementation and replicability.

Partners

PartnersCountryContactsWeb
Ministero dell'Economia e delle FinanzeItalyContactsWeb
Stichting ALLAI NederlandHollandContactsWeb
DIMITRA- Dimitra Education & Consulting S.AGreciaContactsWeb
International Telematic University UNINETTUNOItalyContactsWeb
Stichting Europees Instituut Voor Bestuurskunde EIPAHollandContactsWeb