Our Research
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) conducts problem-oriented theoretical and empirical research in the field of internet and society. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of ever-changing digital societies.
We use the relationship between innovation and governance as our conceptual frame of reference for identifying and assessing these societal changes. The synergies and tensions that arise in this context can be observed across all societal domains and organisations: in the modernisation of the state and public administration, the transformation of markets and companies, as well as in various civil society groups at the local through to the global level. In each case, the challenge consists in mediating new, at times disruptive ideas or solutions with existing legal, social and ethical norms.
To analyse the relationship between innovation and governance, the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society is currently conducting research in four research focuses. These consist of various sub-projects. Each focus area is developing an impact unit, which is testing and translating formats for innovative knowledge production into actionable outcomes.
Democratic Change and Knowledge
Our research examines the interplay between knowledge and science and their role in democratic self-determination. It focuses on the risks of epistemic crises and on strategies for resilient democratic processes in digital societies.
Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Society
Technologies are reshaping how economies and societies develop and operate in a changing, globally connected digital environment. We examine how different forms of innovation and entrepreneurship address systemic societal challenges.
Societal Values, Transformation and Artificial Intelligence
Our research critically analyses socio-technical transformation processes. It centres on the question of how digital technologies can be more closely aligned with societal goals – particularly with regard to sustainability, the public interest and democratic values.
New Technologies and the Future of Law
We examine when, how and by whom rules for technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces and quantum technologies should be set. How can robust governance frameworks be implemented to achieve this?
AI & Society Lab
AI as a socio-technical phenomenon
At the centre is the question of how AI systems can be designed, deployed and regulated so that they align with societal values, democratic principles and human rights standards.
Digital Governance Lab
Protecting rights and enabling innovation
We analyse the rules, procedures and responsibilities that structure the handling of digital data, platforms and technologies. How can digital technologies be regulated in a socially responsible way?
- All
- AI
- Entrepreneurship & innovation
- Media & data
- Politics & law
- Science & education
- Science engagement
- Society & culture
Action for Interactive Anti-Polarisation Learning Experiences for a Better Democracy
The ACTILPEX consortium provides students and other interested parties with the tools to understand mechanisms of polarisation and to counteract them.
Autonomous Weapon Systems
The project investigates how autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are discussed in different concepts of human-machine interaction.
Capacities and competencies in dealing with hate speech and hostility towards science
This project develops strategies to make the science system more resilient to high publicity negative statements.
Data & Society Interface
How can we make data from private and public organisations usable for scientific purposes and for the general good of the society, and still take legal, ethical, economic or organisational challenges into account?
Data Protection as a Service
In this research project we are developing, together with several research partners, solutions that help website owners to overcome their knowledge uncertainties.
Digital Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship
In the “Digital Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship” research project, we investigate entrepreneurial organisations that primarily focus on society – often called social enterprises.
DSA research network
This project supports and improves the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) through cooperative research and networking.
Generative AI in the world of work
This project investigates the significance of generative AI for individuals, organisations and occupational fields in the world of work.
Global Privacy Governance
This project aims to better understand processes of global negotiations, problem framing, regulation and enforcement in this field, both empirically and conceptually.
Human in the Loop?
The project investigates how active human involvement can make a difference in automated decision-making processes.
This research project is developing an auditing method to assess the impact of AI systems in the areas of sustainability and public interest.
Increase corporate political responsibility and accountability of digital platforms
This project examines the growing corporate power of platform capitalism and its hegemony on several spheres of European society.
Narratives and Power in the Debate on AI and Work
This project analyses how AI narratives shape the debate on the future of work, comparing developments in Germany and the United States.
Organisational Resilience and Creativity: Exploring the Future of Educational Technology
How can educational technology be creatively contribute to building resilient universities and equip them to cope with future change?
Publication: Internet Policy Review
The Internet Policy Review is an open access, fast track and peer-reviewed journal on Internet regulation. It tracks public regulatory changes, as well as private policy developments which are likely to have an impact on European societies.
Safe in data traffic: Everyday illustration of fundamental rights at risk
Das Projekt erarbeitet Strategien, um das Wissenschaftssystem widerstandsfähiger gegen Hassrede & Wissenschaftsfeindlichkeit zu machen.
Task Force: Digital Organizing
The task force Digital Organizing is a group of researchers who study the implications of digital practices for the processes of organizing.
Task Force: European Platform Economy
The “Task Force European Platform Economy” is a group of HIIG researchers who study the implications of global platformisation for European actors and institutions.
The Public International Law of the Internet
The research project “The Public International Law of the Internet” at HIIG aims at redefining the relationship between human rights law and the internet.
Theorising digital societies
This research project examines the challenges that are currently arising from the process of digitalisation.
- All
- AI
- Entrepreneurship & innovation
- Media & data
- Politics & law
- Science & education
- Science engagement
- Society & culture
»dwerft«
In March 2014, a three-year research project on new technologies for digital moving images will start in Babelsberg: the »dwerft«.
ACTiSS: Action for computational social science
This educational project aims at fostering the development of computational thinking among social science students and young professionals. All digital training and teaching materials will be freely available to learners and teachers.
Artificial Intelligence & Knowledge Work – Implications, Opportunities and Risks
The research project focuses on the use of AI applications in the intraorganizational workplace of knowledge workers.
Artificial intelligence, explained in human terms
This project uses an interdisciplinary approach to explain models for artificial intelligence (AI) to a broad civil society, to make it explainable, interpretable and comprehensible for all.
Big Data & Nudging – Regulation by Big Data and Behavioural Sciences
The research project aims at bringing together the fragmented discussions on big data-driven behavioural regulation, relating the results of these debates to each other and thus identifying both new research questions and needs for political action. To this end, a conceptual framework is developed first which is used to classify and characterise the instruments, both in existence and under discussion, of big data-driven behavioural regulation.
Case Study: Innovation and Imitation in the Games Sector
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society is currently launching an 18-month study into the tension between innovation and imitation in the Digital Games Industry.
In our project we do research on workers participation on digital platforms by examining new forms and processes of employee participation online.
Creative uses and cross – border copyright regulation
The Internet and digitisation simplify access to copyright protected works, and facilitate their distribution and use. However, these developments also pose fundamental questions of how to reconcile the often-opposing interests and ideas for regulation in this domain.
Cybersecurity
The project explores the important, both mutually beneficial and conflict-prone relationship between cybersecurity and privacy. It also aims to find common ground for regulating cybersecurity issues.
Data Cooperation Platforms for SMEs
The project Data Cooperation Platforms for SMEs (DaPla Mittelstand) is exploring how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in data-rich markets can better participate in the increasing platformization of value chains.
The sharing and re-use of digital data can foster innovation and increase economic and social welfare. However, economic and legal obstacles as well as strategic uncertainties often seem to prevent organizations from sharing the data they control. The “Data Governance” project therefore aimed at elaborating on data governance models that help actors to share and re-use their data
We developed a prototype for e-voting and e-polling based upon digital identity and Random-Sample Voting. The project was one of the winning projects by the Mercator Foundation’s Advocate Europe ideas competition 2018.
Demystifying AI in entrepreneurship
The AI production process is not a magic blackbox, but rather an entrepreneurial process designed and carried out by actors, such as entrepreneurs, with a certain motivation. In this context, HIIG researchers are examining the entrepreneurial process of AI production in Germany as part of the pilot project “Demystifying AI in entrepreneurship – What’s behind German AI production?”.
Digital Civil Disobedience
The political phenomenon of civil disobedience has undergone a remarkable change in recent times, with the expression electronic civil disobedience coming into being in the mid-1990s.
Digital Electoral Compass 2021
The Digital Electoral Compass is intended to create transparency, show the parties’ positions on digital policy issues and provide an overview of their individual plans. The election programmes are divided into six thematic categories: Work & Economy, Infrastructure, Social Affairs & Health, Media & Internet, Education & Research, Administration & Openness and Security.
The respective projects do not only take place in different functional areas of the companies, but are also related to trending topics like Smart City, New Work, or Augmented Reality. Frequently, these projects are implemented in close collaboration with startups. The goal of the study is to present several examples and success stories from different companies and regions of Germany and to derive recommendations for action.
DREAM (Digital Research Mining)
As part of the DREAM project, a mobile application is being developed that simplifies the search for scientific open access publications and suggests suitable new content.
Empirical Copyright Research
The research project Empirical Copyright Research contributes to the nascent field of empirical copyright research with innovative theoretical perspectives and empirically grounded case studies.
Entrepreneurship Research Lab
Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship team is a transdisciplinary group of researchers at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society (HIIG).
Freedom of Expression in the Quasi-Public Sphere
The emerging publics on the Internet heavily rely on the infrastructure and platforms provided by private entities such as Facebook, Twitter, the Apple App Store, or Google. Previous research, predominantly in the form of case studies, has revealed that online platforms not only facilitate but also limit private speech in certain contexts.
Gemeinsam Digital
_Gemeinsam digital, the Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum Berlin, is a central contact point for all companies in Berlin and nationwide that have questions about digitization. Our work is practical, user-oriented and cross-industry. The HIIG is in charge of the topics AI, digital business models, digital further education, and collaboration and offers competent consulting and scientific expertise in various areas.
Goodcoin – Robust Privacy for Loyalty Programmes and Payment Systems
The processing of customer data plays an important role both in traditional business and e-commerce.
How to collaborate with startups?
It is obvious that the tremendous differences in terms of culture, available resources and agility between corporates and startups present challenges for a successful cooperation. Thus, the failure and discontinuation rates of corporate startup collaboration remain high. To date, reliable success factors for these common development projects have rarely been identified. For this reason, the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and Spielfeld Digital Hub, a common initiative of Visa Europe and Roland Berger, have initiated a research project. The one year study “How to collaborate with startups?” will consist of two parts.
IMPaQT – Indicators, Measurement and Performance of Quality Assurance: Third-Mission-Activities in the Social Sciences
The research project “IMPaQT” is about making knowledge transfer from research to society measurable through quality criteria and indicators.
Index of Internet-based Innovation
The Index of Internet-based Innovations illustrates how sectors, regions and companies utilise the Internet when developing new products and services. The objective is to determine parameters identifying the innovative capacity of the Internet for organisational contexts. In connection with the use of information and communication technologies, some factors can serve as a basis for Internet-enabled innovation by applying their empirical indicators.
Innovation and Imitation in the Games Sector
This 2-year study investigated the tension between innovation and imitation in the Digital Games Industry. In this project, we understand imitation as a basic social practice that informs our learning and making. This seems to be particular true for the gaming industry: Entire game genres (think platform sidescroller games or first person shooters) have emerged by re-making and extending on great games.
Innovative Open Access in small sciences (InnOAccess)
The project builds on prior work by the Internet Policy Review, published by HIIG since 2012. This journal publishes independent of any publishers, does not charge and processing fees, and has made a name for itself through an accelerated and open peer review process. Internet Policy Review follows legal changes as well the development of internet standards and norms that have long-term impacts on European societies. The journal constitutes a resource for academics, civil society, entrepreneurs, media, and politicians in equal measure.
Internet of Things: Entrepreneurship & eGovernment
Our research project is divided into two areas. First, we examine the issue from the perspective of technology adaptation and commercialisation – both by startups and established companies. Secondly, we examine how governments can use these applications themselves and what role regulation plays in the internet of things.
Jung. Digital. Engagiert.
The project Jung. Digital. Engagiert. ties in thematically with the Third Engagement Report, in which civic engagement is examined with a focus on the opportunities and challenges for youth and young adult engagement in the digital age. It was published in summer 2020.
KORSE @ HIIG – the Internet and civil security in Europe
The emergence of cyberspace has challenged the law of civil security in Europe. Today, nearly all aspects of life have a digital dimension and therefore, we face new digital threats.
Learn. Match. Partner.
The aim of the first phase is to develop an understanding of the functioning and basic principles of the partner. Interfaces thus found enable an initial, pragmatic short- and medium-term cooperation. These experiences create a trusting basis for medium to long-term, intensive cooperation and joint value creation (partner phase).
Networks of Outrage
In the past decade, Europe has witnessed the birth of many movements at the right end of the political spectrum.
Open!NEXT – Open and community-based innovation processes
New collaborations between company & consumer to foster the idea of open source and open innovation in the non-software area.
Opening Science
It seems as though the digitalisation of research is accompanied by a revision of established research practices and an opening of the research process. In the lead project Open Science we examine the mentioned changes.
Organisational Adaptivity in the German Higher Education Context
In this project, we investigate the digitalisation of higher education, with a focus placed on exploring the implementation of teaching and learning innovations.
Participating through the Outernet
Due to technological progress and a price decline in display technologies, it is believed that almost any surface in urban spaces could become digital. In the long run, people might live ‘inside’ the Internet, surrounded by interactive and digital surfaces.
Pelagios Network: Linking the places of your past
The project investigates new methodologies for using Linked Data to connect historical sources through common references using a variety of digital content including text, images, media, 3D objects, or online databases. This approach minimizes the entry threshold for data users by placing no requirements concerning the adherence to specific metadata schemas, data models, vocabularies or technical implementations with regard to the data.
Platform Alternatives
The project team will derive Corporate Governance Principles for digital platforms that seek to distribute collectively created value more fairly. The project is implemented jointly by HIIG and the Oxford Internet Institute (OII).
Platform Governance and Copyright
This project tackles these issues from two complementary perspectives. It investigates the governance structures that social media platforms have devised over time to create a profitable balance between freedom & control over speech.
Privacy by design in smart cities
How to build smart cities in a privacy and security-friendly way, when more and more movements and human…
Ranking Digital Rights
Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) works to promote freedom of expression and privacy on the internet by creating global standards and incentives for companies to respect and protect users’ rights.
The Digital Administrative State
Our research contributes to this debate by investigating the relationship between the Internet and public institutions as well as their modes of action (public governance).
The discursive and political construction of AI
This project empirically investigates the discursive and political construction of AI in contemporary societies. We have started with studies on the media discourse in Germany as well as on select national AI strategies.
The Ethics of Digitalisation – From Principles to Practices
This research project aims to develop groundbreaking answers to challenges in the area of conflict between ethics and digitalisation.
The Futures of Telemedicine: Knowledge, Policy, Regulation
Digital health cards, electronic health records, medical telematics infrastructure – these are the terms dominating the public and political debates on the digitalization of the health care system in Germany. At EU level, electronic health services (eHealth) are also seen as a great opportunity.
The Third Engagement Report
The Third Engagement Report is a report on civic engagement that focuses on “The Future of Civil Society: Young Engagement in the Digital Age.”
twentyforty
This project explores how digital technologies will continue to shape our work, relationships, education, governance and existence in 2040?
User innovation in smart energy technologies
Interconnected, intelligent energy systems are a highly discussed issue. Such systems are used by customers to control and measure their energy us-age.
Wahlkompass Digitales
Click here for Wahlkompass 2021 Digital policy will be a focal point of the German federal elections…
