Exploring Digital Spheres

HIIG researcher Jessica Schmeiss interviews Uli Erxleben (Hypatos) on how exactly the startup uses deeplearning automation technology for document processing and how this frees up some of our time. The episode is part of the "Demystifying AI in Entrepreneurship" project at HIIG.

In this episode:

• find out more about the Demystifying AI in Entrepreneurship project
• and articles on our blog about companies using AI

In the last episode of Season 2 we visit Mexico City to explore the potentials and challenges of sustainable digital entrepreneurship to mitigate climate change.

In February 2023 Christian Grauvogel, project coordinator of the SET Project and Paul Vilchez, research fellow at the HIIG and author of a discussion paper on sustainable entrepreneurship in Mexico travelled to Mexico City to learn more about how entrepreneurs are navigating different challenges in the ecosystem. They spoke with Nadia Stand, Co-Founder and Impact catalyzer of Sakbé Hub and Juan Pablo Escobar, CEO and co-founder at Civica Digital to find out how you can actually fight climate change with entrepreneurial approaches and aspects of accessibility.

All related publications and information about the SET project can be found at the project site

Germany is at the top of its game researching Artificial Intelligence. Many a digital product launched today is made possible by services developed through German research. But when it comes to actually making a digital product itself, Germany seems to be lacking behind. When did you hear of the last German Facebook, Uber or Amazon? Today’s episode is on the question why Germany tends to find it difficult to make the translation between researching AI and creating a successful AI startup. We’ll be speaking with Jessica Schmeiss, doctoral researcher at the Humboldt Institute. Her research focusses on digital entrepreneurship and in trying to make AI less of a ‘black box’.

Subscribe and rate us on iTunes: Exploring digital spheres

In this episode:

• Jessica Schmeiss' profile
• Demystifying AI – the project
• Read more about demystifying AI on digital society blog

"Silicon Savannah", "Africa is rising" – much attention is directed at Africa as a continent of economic opportunity and growth. HIIG researcher Nicolas Friederici stresses that relative to the hype and hope, things are not that easy and we shouldn't limit our focus on how to copy silicon valley models.

Friederici has been doing field research in different African innovation hubs while working for the world bank and the Geonet project of the Oxford Internet Institute and is now researching at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) about digital innovation and entrepreneurship. One of his questions: how does digitalisation of the economy affect people and places at the world's economic margins. In this episode, he spoke with Wouter about what are the local particularities of setting up a tech business in one of the African innovation hubs and what are the problems face on-site.

In this episode:

• Friederici on innovation hubs in Graham's Digital Economies at Global Margins (2019)
• Agrocenta: https://agrocenta.com/about
• More about the Geonet project at the Oxford Internet Institute
• More about Nicolas Friederici on hiig.de

Amélie Heldt studied French and German Law at the universities of Paris Ouest Nanterre and Potsdam. After passing the first state examination, she completed a supplementary training programme in Design Thinking at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut in Potsdam and worked in the legal department of a market-leading music label. She completed her two-year legal clerkship at the superior Court of Justice in Berlin and was working amongst others for the Stiftung Oper in Berlin (Berlin Opera Foundation), in the media and copyright area of the law firm Raue LLP and for the GIZ (German development agency) in Cambodia.

Since May 2017, she is a junior researcher and Ph.D. candidate within Research Programme 1 “Transformation of Public Communication” at the Hans-Bredow-Institute. In her Ph.D. project, Amélie Heldt focuses on the effect of the fundamental right on freedom of expression in the digital sphere.

Titled: "The difficulty of regulating fake news" and "Chers voisins d’outre-Rhin: A french NetzDG?" Amélie published two articles about the French regulatory situation regarding fake news, and one more on political micro-targeting which is all mentioned during the interview. (all articles are written in German)

Clara is a Public Law Doctoral Candidate at the Rio de Janeiro State University – UERJ. She holds a Master of Public Law diploma from the same University and an L.LM in IT, Media and Communications Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. At the HIIG, she is focused on the regulation of online service providers, specifically regarding the combination of internet governance principles with regulatory strategies and rationales (the subject of her Doctoral thesis). She is also interested in e-governments, digital administrative law and the shaping of democratic institutions in the face of technology in general. Coming from a media and regulation background, Clara has experience working for a multimedia conglomerate, nongovernmental organizations and for the public sector, having served as legal advisor in the Brazilian Audiovisual Regulatory Agency – ANCINE. As a visiting lecturer, she has ministered technology regulation in Fundação Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro and Constitutional Law in UERJ. There, she also acted as pro bono advocate for the Human Rights Clinic and is currently in the executive editing team of the law journal Publicum.

Clara wrote on the blog of the HIIG a detailed article on the fake news during the Brazilian elections.

Besides fake news, Clara and Amélie talk about media and information quality in an age of artificial intelligence. You can read more about this in an article from the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University.