Policy Connect launces Our Place Our Data: Involving local people in Data and AI-based recovery – a landmark All Party Parliamentary Data Analytics (APGDA) inquiry led by Daniel Zeichner MP and sponsored by the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

Our Place Our Data underlines the need for input and transparency at a local and governmental level so that citizens can contribute to, and benefit from, the algorithms that shape our lives and map the UK’s road to a Covid-19 recovery.

Daniel Zeichner MP, chair of the APGDA, led the inquiry, prompting the creation of a new all-of-government Cabinet Committee:

A ‘National Data Ethics Council’ with membership from regional and local leaders as well as Ministers [...] should be supported by a strong and independent Centre for Data Ethics with a duty in law to support all parts of the UK would send a clear signal about the priority the government places on helping local economies to look to the future in recovering from the pandemic.  

The ‘National Data Ethics Council’ would seat local and regional authorities alongside Ministers to prompt a level discussion between government Whitehall policy makers and local actors to address the opportunities of data-driven technologies.

Keith Miller, Academic Director for the Greater Manchester AI Foundry, comments:

The UK is looking to recover post-Covid by harnessing leading AI research that creates innovative products and services which are commercially successful, improve productivity or address social needs.

The impact of Covid-19 on citizens and businesses on a local scale has highlighted the urgency to digitize, establishing democratic and accessible AI-driven technologies to power and inform local actors and the UK’s National Data Strategy.

Floriane Fidegnon, Head of Industry, Technology and Innovation at Policy Connect notes:

Policy Connect understands the need for public trust and citizen involvement in the development of new technologies. Our Place Our Data recommendations provide a clear implementation strategy for local and governmental leaders in developing the necessary proposals and building citizen trust in AI.

The report launch features policy and academic experts such as Roger Taylor, Chair of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, Daniel Zeichner MP, Dr Keeley Crockett, Reader in Computational Intelligence at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Lord Chris Holmes, House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.