Dialogue between politics and research on 5 December 2022 in the Federal Palace at Bern

Opportunities and Challenges

Switzerland and Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges

Based on the example of intelligent traffic, this project examines who can determine the use of data generated by driving automation, for instance. Who has the right to make profit from such data, what role does data protection play – and could the data generated by driving be taken as evidence and used in criminal proceedings to press charges against the will of one of the parties involved?

Legal challenges of big data

This project has analysed existing ethical and legal regulations on research using Big Data. It also explored the practical needs of stakeholders by interviewing researchers and legal scholars with the aim of clarifying how to protect fundamental rights of research subjects.

Regulating big data research

The production of reliable 3D urban models is essential in developing autonomous cars and drones as well as for digital urban management. Failure-proof digitisation strategies based on omnidirectional central cameras permit to update 3D models in real time, thus integrating the fourth dimension – i.e. time.

City digital twins: 3D models from a scanning car

The project is aimed at initiating a fundamental development in emergency and intensive medicine – and bringing about a substantial improvement in the way diagnostics, treatment and risk management are handled in everyday clinical practice.

Intensive care units: an automated alert system

Engineering, medical and health science researchers have been collaborating with the medical device industry to study low back pain via smartphones and wearables. The goal was to improve understanding of low back pain and to develop new solutions for therapy and prevention using mobile health technologies.

Back pain management: a personalised smartphone-based solution

Insurance companies show a keen interest in Big Data that transforms the industry. Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons in collaboration with the reinsurer Swiss Re have analysed the ethical and legal challenges of using Big Data in insurance.

Big data in insurance

Many current and future big data applications raise questions on ethical, legal and social issues. The acceptability of big data solutions crucially depends on the proper handling of these issues.

ELSI-Task-Force for the National Research Programme “Big Data”

Big Data can make companies more productive. In Switzerland, as in other countries, firms have increasingly introduced new technologies to monitor their employees’ performance. However, unreasonable monitoring can destroy trust in the employer. The project aimed at analysing how companies can avoid this.

Switzerland and Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges

List of the projects presented