Public Interest Tech

Digitalization and Public Interest Tech

As the digitalization of society accelerates, more people are thinking about what this means for our future.

Digital technology is now core to how we interact, and it is expanding in areas that are key to our society. These include education and health services. As it stands, Big Tech’s influence will proliferate to many more layers of society. Thankfully, instead of resigning themselves to this perceived inevitable outcome, there is a growing movement of people taking action to promote public interest technology. These people explore different ways for how technology can be built, by placing the wellbeing of people and society first.

Alkemio is actively involved in this movement. In this blog post, we:

(A) Share an overview of key themes we see people focusing on;

(B) Highlight some of the key players and initiatives worldwide.

It is a fascinating topic, and one which has potential for massive impact.

Key themes

• Creating: When creating, the goal is to proactively pursue and build new technological tools designed to place society before profit. Encouraging innovation is better than simply regulating Big Tech;
• Education: Having safe spaces for students to engage and learn together and with AI is important, without their data being absorbed by Big Tech;
• Control: Giving control of people’s data back to their respective owners means pursuing the right to privacy. For governments, the equivalent is to hand digital autonomy back to nations;
• Digitalisation of society: If digitalisation is the car and society the destination, AI is the foot on the accelerator. Do we really want Big Tech, known for prioritizing profit, to influence our healthcare, pensions and education? Rhetorical question, of course;
• Algorithms: Algorithms should not give excessive attention to the person who shouts the loudest; by changing this, we can protect our democracies and prevent polarisation;
• Inclusiveness: Technology should serve the needs of all people, not only the majority;
• Open and Transparent: By using open source technology, we can trust the tools we use because they are open to scrutiny. Plus, we can learn from each other!

Public Interest Tech movement

The set of organizations and foundations that are driving the Public Interest Tech movement is growing. Below are some of the key players we have so far identified and are following. It is noticeable how the types of players driving this movement vary depending on the regions!

Netherlands

In our home base of the Netherlands, the public sector and the private sector are both involved in pushing this topic forward, often working together. Though it is still early days in terms of what can and must be done!

Key players include:

• Digicampus
• GovTech NL
• PublicSpaces
• Rathenau Institute
• SIDN Fonds
• City of The Hague
• Province of South Holland
• Freedom Internet
• International Center for Future Generations
• Jose van Dijck
• Bert Hubert

Europe

The EU has been a leader in regulating the dominance and behaviour of big tech companies. There is now an increased emphasis on taking positive actions and increasing innovation, including by European foundations and politicians.

Key players include:

• EU Digital Service Act
• Bertelsmann Stiftung
• Stiftung Mercator Switzerland
• Werner Stengg
• Mario Draghi
• Reset Tech
• Katapult Future Fest

US

In the US the private sector has taken the lead, especially by foundations and universities. In July 2024, however, the White House got involved! Bringing the power of US foundations to this topic is a source of great hope for expanding the movement and public interest tech.

Some of the players include:

• Omidyar Network
• Project Liberty
• McGovern Foundation
• PIT-UN
• Ford Foundation
• Siegel Family Endowment
• Center for Humane Technology
• Mozilla
• Aspen Digital Institute
• All Tech is Human
• NewPublic
• Public Interest Tech Fund

Other regions

Our focus has been, to date, on understanding the landscape in Europe and the US. Taiwan and Singapore stand out as taking the lead on this topic in Asia, and we will continue to explore initiatives in other regions worldwide.

What other initiatives are out there?

This is a large and fascinating field that has the potential to deeply impact our future.

If you know of any other exciting initiatives, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch here or through our LinkedIn.

If you’d like to know more about what Alkemio is doing to help grow the public interest tech movement, reach out to us or visit our platform.