ITHACA project aims to better understand the complexities and controversies for applying AI into the field of civic participation and stimulate new and responsible practices of research and innovation that anchor AI technologies design in human rights, values and principles, and moral and ethical reflection.The project vision is to contribute to the maximisation of the possible positive impact of AI on the functioning of democratic institutions and processes by developing and testing of a human centric Artificially Intelligent and Ethics by Design online discussion platform for civic participation in local governance, which incorporates human and social interpretations into the design process to ensure that AI decision-making processes are explainable, transparent and fair. ITHACA will pay particular attention to the needs and voices of citizens from vulnerable groups, with a view to ensuring that human rights impacts stemming from the design, development and ongoing deployment of algorithmic systems are comprehensively monitored, debated and addressed. Through its pilot activities in two different EU countries, ITHACA plans to assess the ability of AI to enhance citizens participation in the local governance while preventing or minimizing possible adverse effects stemming from unregulated use of AI and empowering citizens with knowledge about the AI model involved. ITHACA will also provide scalable tools for the identification of security risks and threats and for conformity with the Fairness principle and Privacy principle in AI-based systems and big data for civic engagement applications. Based on its implementation experiences, the project will define a data governance framework with relevant ethical principles and practices to be implemented in the design, development, deployment process for AI civic engagement platforms as well as policy recommendations on philosophical, legal and ethical values that should be embedded in the development of such platforms.

In European society, video games are important both as a cultural and commercial industry and as an important aspect of people's daily lives. When compared to other economic sectors, the EU's video game market exhibits a rapid growth rate and makes up one-third of the total market value. The overall aim of the i-Game project is to create an accessible open-source game development platform that will facilitate the co-creation of games by diverse actors within different ecosystems of cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI), to enhance innovation and to bring positive impact on social cohesion and sustainability. More specifically, i-Game aspires: 1) To engage video game stakeholders of different abilities, expertise, and disciplines, to contribute, learn, share and tap into new innovative and economic opportunities; 2) To provide a collaborative platform with the tools to co-create mobile and virtual reality games by engaging different users, from different backgrounds and sectors; 3) To develop an ethical-design culture in the video game industry; 4) To monitor, assess and manage the impact that the video games have on different sectors, especially targeting culture/museums, creative industries and fashion/textile; 5) To help understand why and how are online games positively impacting people, culture and society and help extract the ingredients necessary for developing a new generation of games targeted to improve people’s well-being. The i-Game partnership, composed by organisations with diversified backgrounds and expertise, reassures the interdisciplinary approach required to address the complex topic of the games’ impact on innovation, sustainability, social cohesion and economic growth. This multi-sectorial and inclusive cooperation shall stimulate an innovative and productive work and inspire cross-fertilisation across perspectives, disciplines and countries, under common European values.