Many of the things we do to each other in the 21st century –both good and bad – we do by means of smart technology. Drones, robots, cars, and computers are a case in point. Military drones can help protect vulnerable, displaced civilians; at the same time, drones that do so without clear accountability give rise to serious moral questions when unintended deaths and harms occur. More generally, the social benefits of our smart machines are manifold, the potential drawbacks and moral quandaries extremely challenging. In this talk, I take up the question of responsible innovation drawing on the European Union experience, value sensitive design, and reconsidering the relations between ethics and design.

Jeroen van den Hoven is a professor of Ethics and Technology at Delft University of Technology. He was the first scientific director for 3TU/Ethics and is currently editor-in-chief of Ethics and Information Technology. In 2009 he won both the World Technology Award for Ethics and the IFIP prize for ICT and Society for his work on ethics and ICT.