07/06/2022

Using artificial intelligence to promote sustainable consumption
Award of funding to the ZuSiNa research project

As part of the German government's AI strategy, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUV) is funding projects that use artificial intelligence to address ecological challenges and are exemplary for environmentally, climate, health and nature-friendly digitalization ('AI lighthouses'). A total of more than 300 ideas were submitted, of which 28 will be funded.

During an event organized by the BMUV, State Secretary Stefan Tidow also handed over the funding notification to the ZuSiNa project, among other projects. The overall aim of the project is to improve the accessibility and visibility of sustainability information in an online context. It initially focuses on the textile sector. The predecessor project KI4NK identified two major hurdles to greater sustainability in online consumption that can be removed with AI. First, on the part of companies: Currently, their costs of obtaining credible sustainability information are high. With ZuSiNa, the project will make it easier for companies to access information about credible certifications as well as other relevant sustainability information. This means that it will be less burdensome for companies to include this information in their product ranges and in the information they offer on search engines, price comparison portals and online stores. On the other hand, on the consumer side: Although Internet sites basically have the potential to simplify sustainable consumption for consumers, these possibilities are often not used today. ZuSiNa aims to show how consumers shopping on search engines, price comparison portals and online stores can be made easier to choose sustainable products and services through design and user guidance. This includes changes in the following areas:

• The presentation of search results,
• The selection and presentation of more sustainable product recommendations through proposal algorithms,
• filtering options, and
• The display and presentation of credible sustainability information more generally.

The 24-month project began in March 2022 and is being conducted jointly by the ConPolicy Institute, Fraunhofer IAO (CeRRI), Fraunhofer ISI, and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). In addition, wide-ranging partners from the business world have been recruited for the project, including Google Germany, idealo, Otto Group, Avocado-Store, Tchibo, Blauer Engel, GOTS and Oeko-Tex, as well as BEVH.

Further information about the grant notification can be found here (German). More infomation on project can be found here.

07/05/2022

Together for digital corporate responsibility
ConPolicy input as part of the BMUV's CDR conference

On 05 July 2022, the Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection hosted a conference on digital corporate responsibility and shaping sustainable and digital transformation. At the conference, the CDR reports of the member companies were published for the first time. Members of the CDR Initiative committed themselves to prepare the reports when they signed the CDR Code.

Before the presentation of some of the CDR reports, Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Brink (University of Bayreuth, concern), Dr. Frank Esselmann (concern) and ConPolicy Managing Director Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun introduced the initiative’s CDR Code and the reporting obligations.

Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun emphasized that the CDR Code had made a significant contribution to providing a framework for the discourse on CDR responsibility. The Code defines five areas of action: data handling, education, climate and resource protection, employee involvement and inclusion, including the respective proposed measures. Regarding the reporting requirements, he emphasized that these serve to enable shared learning and contribute to greater commitment.

06/26/2022

Integration of consumer research in the development of AI-based services
ConPolicy participates at the 24th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Between June 26 and July 01, 2022, the 24th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) took place in Gothenburg, Sweden as a hybrid event. The HCI is a renowned forum for the dissemination and exchange of scientific results in the realm of Human Computer Interaction. Together with Frank Binder from the Institute for Applied Informatics at Leipzig University (InfAI) Project Manager Dr. Jana Diels presented the results of a joint research paper on 'Putting Users in the Loop: How User Research Can Guide AI Development for a Consumer-Oriented Self-service Portal'.

The paper is based on the completed research project 'Smart_HEC' for the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. It tackles the question on how consumer research should be integrated in the development of AI-based consumer services. The results show that by interlocking consumer- and AI-research throughout the whole development process, applications can emerge that satisfy both the consumers’ need for a powerful AI system and high functionality and consumer friendly interfaces.

The related publication can be downloaded here.