Seed Funding

 

Next-Generation Technology Policy

 

How do we build — and harness — technology that protects privacy, security, and democracy?

 

The rapid pace of technology innovation poses significant policy and governance challenges in the U.S. and abroad. CITRIS engages partners from the public and private sectors to drive rigorous and evidence-based policy proposals at local, state, national and international levels. Core questions address the role of formal and informal regulation in promoting technology innovation, amplifying the positive effects of information technologies, and mitigating potential harms. There is high demand for interdisciplinary technology policy research and engagement to ensure innovations serve the broader interests of society.

 

Proposals are invited that address critical challenges and opportunities in:

      • Responsible artificial intelligence: development and governance of AI-enabled technologies that are fair, accountable, trustworthy
      • Digital ID systems: ethical design, deployment, human rights implications
      • Blockchain in the public sector: novel applications for social good
      • IT supply chains: policies to address vulnerability, fragility and security of technology supply chains for the U.S., particularly re: semiconductors
      • Disaster risk reduction: policy implications of crowdsourcing platforms, high-performance computing and visualization tools for disaster readiness
      • Digital inclusion: equitable deployment and adoption of broadband internet
      • Democratic innovations: digital tools for inclusive democratic discourse, participatory resource allocation and budgeting, constituent engagement
      • Computational propaganda: identification or mitigation of harms related to algorithms, automation, mis-/disinformation, digital harassment campaigns
      • Digital authoritarianism: address rising use of internet blocking, facial recognition, spyware and related tactics
      • Policies for equity in IT sector: monitoring, reporting and transparency regarding compensation, benefits, advancement, flexible work, or advancing corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals

Recent CITRIS Policy Lab Seed Funding Awardees

Bots and Misinformation on Facebook: Prevalence, Activity, and Effects
This project will offer a foundational overview of the prevalence and activities of bots on Facebook, model the role of bots in the spread of misinformation on public Facebook pages over time, and identify bot influence on the hostility of user discussions.

Principal Investigators: Magdalena Wojcieszak (UC Davis), Gireeja Ranade (UC Berkeley), & Felix Wu (UC Davis)

Cognition to Action in Extreme Events: Policy Interventions for Disaster Risk Reduction
Researchers will use rapid prototyping to explore how to make city-scale transportation models, visualizations, and communication strategies effective and responsive to community needs when constituents must make life-altering decisions.

Principal Investigators: Thomas Maiorana (UC Davis), Kenichi Soga (UC Berkeley), & Louise Comfort (UC Berkeley)