Skip to content
    • About us
          • Digital Catapult is a deep tech innovation organisation driving business value by accelerating the application of advanced technologies.

            3,000

            Companies supported since 2018

            £555m

            Investment raised by startups since 2018

            20+

            Advanced technology facilities nationwide

    • Our ambition
          • Our ambition is to realise the practical application of deep tech through four interventions

            ambition-scale-deep-tech

            Enabling UK deep tech companies to scale

            ambition-improving-supply-chain

            Improving UK industrial supply chain resilience

            ambition-decarbonisation

            Driving industrial decarbonisation

            ambition-advancing-data

            Advancing UK development and use of data driven and open future networks

    • Our people
          • susan-bowen

            We are an organisation made up of almost 300 innovators.

            We pride ourselves on the skilled and talented people from varied backgrounds that make up our team – we harness the expertise, perspectives and connections of people of more than 40 nationalities, thereby bringing together a diversity of skills, experience and backgrounds.

            Susan Bowen

            CEO of Digital Catapult

    • Our places
    • Startups and scaleups
          • bfp cover

            Black Founders Programme

            The Black Founders Programme is an accelerator targeted at pre-seed or seed stage, Black-founded companies creating innovative products and services...
            ORCA-020

            Quantum Technology Programme

            Separating opportunity from hype to understand industry challenges that may be best solved by quantum computing.
    • Government and Public sector
          • 3d,Illustration,Of,Hydrogen,H2,Molecule,Model,-,Clean,Energy

            Hydrogen Innovation Programme

            Discover more about the the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative and the deployment of hydrogen technologies to address pressing energy and environmental...
            London,Office,Building,For,Network,And,Future,Concept

            Digitalising Energy Programme

            Energy Systems Catapult and Digital Catapult have partnered to explore the groundwork for a UK-wide initiative to accelerate a digitalised,...
          • Banner website digital twin 3

            UK Digital Twin Centre

            Delivered by Digital Catapult and funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Innovate UK, the UK Digital Twin Centre makes digital twins more accessible and meaningful in the UK. It actively enable industries and innovators to safely embrace, explore and realise their dynamic power.
            Find out more UK Digital Twin Centre
    • Corporates and Industry
          • Transparent,Clear,Colorful,Glass,Or,Liquid,Waves.,Neon,Pattern,Abstract

            Green Hydrogen Certifier

            This report looks at the Green Hydrogen Certifier - an end-to-end demonstration of a potential digital certification solution for hydrogen production...
    • Academia
    • Investors
          • bfp cover

            Black Founders Programme

            The Black Founders Programme is an accelerator targeted at pre-seed or seed stage, Black-founded companies creating innovative products and services...
    • Services
          • Bespoke software & data systems

            Developing proof-of-concept demonstrators to showcase the viability and benefit of deep tech solutions.

            Platform engineering service

            Designing, building and operating physical and digital facilities. Providing testbeds for deep tech discovery and experimentation.

            Technology & innovation consultancy

            Consultancy services helping organisations addresses market preparedness gaps, evaluate financial viability and navigate technology change management.

          • Acceleration programmes for business

            Creating acceleration programmes to support businesses.Helping them grow through mentorship, technology support, networking, and investment opportunities.

            Facilitating and convening

            Bringing together and developing ecosystems of companies to explore, test and demonstrate how deep tech works in practice.

    • Technologies
    • Facilities
    • Opportunities
          • newsletter

            Sign up to our newsletter

            sign up for alerts and be the first to know when new open calls are announced. Don’t miss your chance to stay informed and get involved!

    • Current interventions
          • ORCA-020

            Quantum Technology Programme

            Separating opportunity from hype to understand industry challenges that may be best solved by quantum computing.
          • Banner website digital twin 3

            UK Digital Twin Centre

            Delivered by Digital Catapult and funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Innovate UK, the UK Digital Twin Centre makes digital twins more accessible and meaningful in the UK. It actively enable industries and innovators to safely embrace, explore and realise their dynamic power.
            Find out more UK Digital Twin Centre
    • Case studies
          • Black Founders Programme Showcase event.

            SymphoMe: case study

            Part of the FutureScope's Black Founders Programme, Digital Catapult supported Nyangibo Gallery to get investment ready and receive business expertise
    • Events
    • Blogs
    • Publications
          • Glass globe encircled by verdant forest flora, symbolizing nature, environment, sustainability, ESG, and climate change awareness, generative ai

            Get involved

            Be the first to know about upcoming resources, events and activities in the BridgeAI programme.
            Glass globe encircled by verdant forest flora, symbolizing nature, environment, sustainability, ESG, and climate change awareness, generative ai

            The Programme

            Find out more about how the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme and how it aims to stimulate the adoption AI and...
    • Press releases
  • Search
  • Contact
Press Release

Digital Catapult unveils plan to increase adoption of ethics in artificial intelligence

Posted 28 Sep 2018

Practical ethics guidance and recommendations for artificial intelligence technology development unveiled by the Machine Intelligence Garage Ethics Committee.

London, 28th September 2018: Digital Catapult’s Machine Intelligence Garage Ethics Committee has released its first Ethics Framework and invites AI companies to test the framework as a means to integrate ethical practice into the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

The Ethics Framework sets out key ethical considerations and underlying questions that provide a practical approach for startups, individual developers and experts to use in planning for and addressing the ethical challenges faced by their business, technology and ideas.

The Machine Intelligence Garage Ethics Committee believes ethics should be a central consideration for companies and individuals developing AI in order to create positive meaningful change for society. Those who have considered the ethical implications of their products and services, and who monitor, manage and communicate effectively about them, will have a competitive edge.

Startups are the primary target audience for the Ethics Framework. According to Digital Catapult, startups are perhaps the hardest testing ground for ethical tools since they have little time or resource for unnecessary work or abstract discussion. Conversely, startups and scaleups can more readily reap the potential rewards, since they are unencumbered with legacy infrastructure and can embed ethical practices right from the beginning of their business growth.

The Ethics Framework will therefore initially be offered to companies on Digital Catapult’s Machine Intelligence Garage programme to see how it can be applied to the systems that these startups are already in the process of creating. In addition, a series of workshops and roundtable events will be organised for companies and individuals outside of the programme to engage, with a view to helping to update and evolve the Ethics Framework over time, to understand how wider industry adoption can be effectively rolled out, and to produce or highlight tools that embed good ethical practice within good engineering practice.

Dr Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult, said: “At this very early stage in its development, presenting industry with a set of enforceable rules might deter companies from trying to navigate and understand what responsible AI looks like in practice. The Ethics Framework has been designed to provide guidance for companies to explore what role ethics might play in their projects and to help share best practice across industry.”

Dr Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information & Digital Ethics Lab Director at University of Oxford, and Chair of the Ethics Committee commented: “It’s been well discussed that the ethical application of artificial intelligence is one of the pressing questions of our time. The first Ethics Framework provides a guiding light for the ethical and responsible development of AI. It is critical that businesses of all sizes start to think and act ethically and responsibly. We know from working directly with early stage AI companies that a highly practical framework, which speaks in the language and caters to the needs of those developing AI enabled products or services, is required at this crucial stage in the formation of the UK’s already remarkable AI community. The new Ethics Framework is a robust enabler for innovation that will decrease risks and opportunity costs.”

Digital Catapult’s Machine Intelligence Garage Ethics Committee is an independent body dedicated to realising responsible artificial intelligence development in the UK. It was established in July 2018 and includes some of the foremost minds in AI and data ethics. The Committee is made up of a Steering Group, who will oversee the development of tools to facilitate responsible AI in practice, and an Advisory Group, who will work closely with startups developing their propositions through Digital Catapult’s Machine Intelligence Garage programme.

The Ethics Committee welcomes feedback and opportunities for collaboration. For a full list of Committee Steering Group and Working Group members, visit www.migarage.ai/ethics-committee or contact us at [email protected].

To read the framework in full click here.

 

 

About Digital Catapult

Digital Catapult is the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation Centre, driving early adoption of technologies to make UK businesses more competitive and productive to grow the country’s economy.

We connect large established companies, startup and scaleup businesses and researchers to discover new ways to solve big challenges in the manufacturing and creative industries. Through this collaboration businesses are supported to develop the right technologies to solve problems, increase productivity and open up new markets faster.

Digital Catapult provides physical and digital facilities for experimentation and testing that would otherwise not be accessible for smaller companies.

As well as breaking down barriers to technology adoption for startups and scaleups, our work de-risks innovation for large enterprises and uncovers new commercial applications in immersive, future networks, and artificial intelligence technologies. For more info please visit www.digicatapult.org.uk.