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 engagement 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 investigate 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
Artificial intelligence as a socio-technical phenomenon
This interdisciplinary interface brings together findings on AI, tests them in practice and develops new formats in workshops with a range of stakeholder groups.
Digital Governance Lab
Protecting rights and enabling innovation
This testing ground puts findings on digital data, platforms and technologies into practice and discusses them with representatives from academia and society.
Forum. Venturing Futures.
Opportunities for innovation and sustainable progress
This space for action develops new formats and tools for open dialogue that connect entrepreneurial thinking with social responsibility.
- 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.
AI and Gender Equality
The project reviews research on AI and structural gender inequality, identifying problem areas, research gaps and fields of action for policy and practice.
AI Capacity-Building
As part of this pilot project, HIIG is becoming part of the “Global Network of Centres for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity Building” (AI CDN).
Anonymised Collection and Use of Mobility and Movement Data
This project combines homomorphic encryption with legal analysis to securely process mobility data while minimising risks to affected individuals’ rights.
Capacities and competencies in dealing with hate speech and hostility towards science
The KAPAZ project develops strategies and practical tools to make the science system more resilient to hostility in public discourse.
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 Impact Assessment to evaluate 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 Future of Ownership
This project assesses how steward ownership and governance structures shape economic performance, ecological sustainability and social equity.
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
A media theory of the humanoid robot – Artificial intelligence in Japanese and European interpretations
In this project, the humanoid robots in Japan in particular will be examined with the aim of working out the realities of AI.
Acquisition logic as an obstacle to Diamond Open Access
The research project is investigating how Diamond Open Access publication model can be organised in Germany in the long term.
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.
Autonomous Weapon Systems
The project investigates how autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are discussed in different concepts of human-machine interaction.
Between autonomy and surveillance – Employee-oriented use of People Analytics
In the research project, we are researching how people and organisations use so-called people analytics applications.
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.
In our project we do research on workers participation on digital platforms by examining new forms and processes of employee participation online.
Data & Smart City Governance: Using the Example of Air Quality Management
The project is developing a data governance model with which administration, business and civil society can work together on data utilisation and processing in the smart city for the common good.
The project aims to develop an analytical research framework that can be used to describe data governance structures in a uniform manner and compare their success factors.
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.
Defining concepts of the digital society
This project seeks to substantiate the conceptual ambition of the research programme The Evolving Digital Society by curating a set of reference articles on key notions and concepts.
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 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.
Digital Platforms: Alternative Models and Designs
HIIG organises a five-part impulse series on the topic of digital platforms together with the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Upgrade Democracy Team.
Digitalisation and Climate
The project Digitalisation and Climate examines the economic, ecological & social dimensions of a sustainable digital economy.
Digitalisation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship
The Digitalisation and Entrepreneurship project explores sustainable digital entrepreneurship, the gig economy and the future of work.
DUCAH @ HIIG
The Digital Urban Center for Aging and Health (DUCAH) is an initiative of the Internet and Society Foundation and the Einstein Center for Digital Future.
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.
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.
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.
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).
HIIG is involved in two of the projects as part of the BMFTR funding programme “Making Repositories and AI Systems Usable in Everyday Nursing Care”.
Networks of Outrage
In the past decade, Europe has witnessed the birth of many movements at the right end of the political spectrum.
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.
Participation in German Law
In the context of a comprehensive project concerning online participation in cooperation with the Hans-Bredow-Institute, the sub-project „e-petitions“ focuses on the e-petitions platform of the German parliament, the Bundestag.
Platform governance
Platforms have installed themselves as key intermediaries in contemporary societies. They re-organise communication and politics, mobility and travel, work and everyday life. Yet, with this change controversies arise.
Platform://Democracy
The project “Platform://Democracy” examines how the rules of discourse on platforms can be aligned with public values.
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 actions are tracked by means of public WiFi…
Public Interest AI
The “Public Interest AI” research group is developing an operationalisable analysis procedure that will allow Public Interest to be defined in an AI-specific way and tested in technical prototypes.
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.
Repository for scientific policy and society advice
Political decisions are increasingly based on empirical research results. The project makes advisory documents specifically searchable and develops quality standards.
Scholar-led Plus: Tailored support for scholar-led publishing
This research project aims to improve the publication situation of scholar-led, non-APC open access gold journals through a consortial support structure.
The project investigates the discourse and developments around AI’s “deep learning revolution” over the ten formative years.
Strengthening Digital Skills through Micro-Credentials
In a rapidly changing labour market, micro-credentials offer a flexible solution for new learning and training pathways. These will be developed in this transfer project on AI and data.
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.
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 in 2017. More than ever, the elections will…
Women* in Tech
The project develops intersectional questions on equality. With our focus on building networks for and by women*, we aim to support cultural change in the technology sector.
