AI Coalition for the Netherlands (AIC4NL) announces the start of four research projects within the National Growth Fund call AiNed ELSA Labs. These projects focus on the development of AI applications that combine technological advances with societal embedding and exploiting economic opportunities. The implementing organization for the ELSA Labs is the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
What are ELSA Labs?
The AiNed ELSA Labs, where ELSA stands for Ethical, Legal, and Societal Aspects, focus on the ethical, legal, and societal aspects of the responsible development and application of AI. Through concrete use cases and practical experiences, the labs develop and test ethical guidelines and legal frameworks for AI applications. The results contribute to the development of legislation and offer advice to developers and applicators of AI. Each ELSA Lab focuses on a specific application area so that general regulations can be translated into practice within that context.
The labs also address societal challenges. Co-creation and citizen participation are central, ensuring that solutions meet the needs of society. The output consists of policy recommendations and insights that contribute to a fair, safe, and reliable application of AI.
Assigned projects
The four assigned projects focus on diverse AI applications, ranging from adaptation of AI in the tech industry and mobility sector to the legal, ethical and societal implications of AI in healthcare. Each project explores both the potential of AI and the challenges associated with responsible implementation.
The four assigned projects are as follows:
1. ELSA Lab for Technical Industry
Sponsor: University of Groningen
This lab investigates how AI can be responsibly and effectively deployed in the technical industry. The focus is on the slow adoption of AI by SMEs and the risks this poses to competitiveness, labor market and sustainability. Together with companies, concrete ethical and legal guidelines are being developed.
2. Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Aspects of Clinical Decision Support Systems
Sponsor: Radboud University
This lab investigates the legal, ethical and technological conditions for the safe deployment of AI in clinical decision support. Through collaboration between researchers, healthcare professionals and patients, it works toward reliable certification of AI applications in healthcare practice.
3. ELSA Lab AI for Health Equity
Sponsor: University of Amsterdam
How do we prevent medical AI from reinforcing existing inequities? This lab is developing guidelines for fair and inclusive AI in healthcare. Through collaboration with community partners and citizens, solutions that ensure fairness, transparency and regulatory compliance are being tested.
4. Mobility DesAIgn Lab
Sponsor: TNO
The lab explores how advanced AI, such as prescriptive digital twins, can be used responsibly in urban mobility policy. Three concrete use cases show the social, legal and economic implications of AI in future traffic management and sustainable mobility interventions.
For more information on the assigned projects, see the NWO website.
Purpose of the Call
The goal of the National Growth Fund Call AiNed ELSA Labs is to gain knowledge and insights that contribute to the development of methods, techniques and tools for responsible AI. The projects explore frameworks and guidelines for AI that align with public values and human rights, providing the basis for legislation, policy advice and responsible AI solutions.
About NWO
NWO conducts thematic programs for research, knowledge development and innovation funded from the National Growth Fund. The results are applicable in innovations and organizations, thus contributing to the sustainable earning capacity and broad prosperity of the Netherlands. In the programs, parties from the entire knowledge chain work together, both public and private.
About AIC4NL
AI Coalition for the Netherlands is the public-private platform for driving and implementing responsible development and adoption of AI in the Netherlands. As the largest AI community in the Netherlands, we connect AI innovators, knowledge institutions, businesses and governments and link them to our targeted tools to promote AI adoption within strategic sectors for the Netherlands. AIC4NL fulfills three key roles: opinion leader, director and program builder.
