ESR Barbara Lazarotto at Conference “Public Governance and Emerging Technologies”

On January 11-12 2024, ESR Barbara Lazarotto presented her research at the interdisciplinary international conference on ‘Public Governance and Emerging Technologies: Values, Trust, and Compliance by Design’ in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Conference explored the use of emerging technologies in public governance and how this deployment can be done in a legally, ethically, and socially acceptable way.

 

Barbara presented her research on the topic of “The Role of Technology in Citizens’ Right to Good Administration: Examining the Impact of Smart Governments”. She explored the growing trend of “smart government,” where technology, including information and communication technologies (ICT) and artificial intelligence (AI), is extensively used to enhance public administration, collecting and processing large-scale data with the main objective of improving efficiency and reducing costs. Despite justifications based on the right to good administration, concerns arise regarding the impact on citizen autonomy and privacy. Her paper explores the concept of “smart governments,” analyzing common technological practices, such as nudging and sensorization of public environments.

Barbara’s work will be featured as a chapter in a book exploring the topic of technology and public governance to be published late in 2024.