At the “An innovative and inclusive NWE” event on 22 June 2021, the EYES lead partner, IKG, moderated a round table on the legal challenges that social innovation projects face when exploring new technologies, especially in the field of digitalisation.
As social innovation projects mostly address vulnerable people, they have to pay particular attention to legal issues like personal data protection (GDPR) and liability. However, project partners often have no particular experience in integrating legal considerations into the design process. They face a hen or egg problem: Shall I start the design process of the social innovation first and tackle legal issues later, or shall I define the legal framework first, and only then start designing? The decision will have a major impact on the project outcome. While highly innovative approaches may fail the legal reality check at the end, a pre-defined legal framework may discourage disruptive solutions right from the start.
In order to make projects more effective, partners should have at least a rough overview of the legal challenges that can be expected to pop up in the course of a digital social innovation project.
IKG suggests that the NWE programme provides a legal checklist or risk assessment that raise the general awareness of applicants and support them to plan their resources for legal advise realistically. Furthermore, old and new social innovation projects should be actively connected to exchange best practice in this field. On top of that, the programme could also provide a list of external services that combine legal expertise on both social and transnational issues.
With the help of these measures, the Interreg programme could provide a sound framework for social innovation projects that want to exploit the potential of new technologies.