Themed call: Responsible AI in Practice

Opportunities and risks presented by AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers many opportunities for people, organisations, governments and society at large. It can provide a basis for all sorts of solutions to complex problems, make everyday life easier and more personal, and give innovation an enormous boost.

However, AI is also associated with serious risks, such as data bias, algorithmic discrimination, invasion of privacy, diminished security, adverse environmental impact, manipulation, disinformation and polarisation. What's more, the relatively new legislation and guidelines designed to ensure the responsible and safe use of AI, such as the EU's AI Act, don't yet provide much leverage against those risks. It's difficult to apply them so that the development and use of AI is responsible in practice. Yet there is a real need for practical tools and clear guidance on the responsible use of data and algorithms. With AI developing at enormous speed, yielding applications such as generative AI, solutions are urgently required.

Responsible and safe use of AI

The current challenge is to develop practical means of enabling the responsible and safe use of AI. In the Netherlands, work is underway to address that challenge in the ELSA Labs, for example, where the ethical, legal and societal aspects of digitisation and AI are centre stage. The ELSA Labs – in which knowledge centres, businesses, NGOs and government entities collaborate – provide an inspiring example of how the development of responsible, human-focused AI applications can be realised.

This joint call for proposals by SIDN Fund and Topsector ICT is aimed at the concretisation of frameworks and tools for the responsible use of AI in practice.

Your project:

• Must be proposed by a knowledge centre.

• Must involve a consortium from the quadruple helix, and must feature collaboration between a knowledge centre and at least one commercial enterprise.

• Must be co-funded (both cash support and support in kind are acceptable). For the knowledge centre, funding of up to 80 per cent of the project cost is available. Private co-funding of at least 25 per cent (in cash or in kind) is desirable.

• Has added value for society, in the form of general social significance and impact, and is not intended to serve the interests of a particular person or a particular commercial or political organisation.

• Focuses on a Dutch context, but also has potential added value at the European level.

• Is scalable.

• Preferably has a communication vision and an impact realisation vision.

• Is high quality. We'll assess the quality by looking at the problem outline and the rationale given for the proposed solution.

• Is innovative. You can convincingly show that it involves a new idea, an existing idea applied in a new context, the broadening of access to an existing, promising tool, or a new application of digital technology.

• Is potentially capable of achieving long-term impact in relation to the objectives of the call. You can show how continuity will be assured beyond the project period.

• Meets a real need and is therefore result-oriented. The need addressed by your project must be clearly defined and evidenced. You'll need to show how you identified the need within the target group, who the target group is, and how you can reach them.

• Will be completed within 2 years of the start date.

As an applicant, you:

• Requests on behalf of a Dutch knowledge centre.

• Demonstrably possess the capacity and expertise to successfully undertake the project. Wherever possible, the team itself should possess the required expertise, and not be reliant upon third-party providers. Diversity within the team is desirable.

• Have a strong contact network.

Your application will be unsuccessful if:

• You're developing or refining a website or app, without any substantive innovation of services, functionality or processes that support the mission of SIDN Fund.

• You're looking for sponsorship or support for an event.

• Your initiative has a religious or party-political objective.

• Your application relates to structural organisational expenditure, operating costs or personnel costs that aren't directly attributable to a qualifying project.

• The initiative will exclusively benefit one person or business, is a purely B2B initiative, or involves product development for the benefit of a single business.

• The initiative involves the use of innovative technology but does not address a clear societal problem

  or meet a demonstrable need within a defined target group ('technology looking for a problem').

• You have no clear plans to actively and proactively share results and knowledge.