Tackling ethical issues in a H2020 Project in the Big Data domain

Big Datahastremendous potential to be exploited for the public goodand data-driven innovation brings significant benefits. Last but not least,this is the case because data represents the raw material for most AI technologies.Nevertheless, Big Datatechnologiesand their usealso implya number of ethical concerns, risks and challenges. It is therefore paramount to adopt adequate mitigating measures and safeguards, also in relation to the research and demonstration activities of European projects, as well as to their achievements. This EthicsWhite Paper (EWP), capitalizing on AEGIS experience, is aimed at offering a focused and practical guidanceand best practicesfor dealing with ethical issues in Big Dataprojects, proposing ways of progressing the action and developing research results ina constructive and ethically-compliant manner. This document, therefore, provides an overview of howbeneficiaries in the data-driven domain can operationalize responsible research and innovation principles, ethical guidelines and data ethics in the framework of their action, providing best practices and lessons learnt on how reflecting ethical considerations in their activities and results. It is aimed atoffering suggestions and tips forgetting project development and outcomes ‘ethics-compliant’ under Horizon 2020 and the applicable regulatory framework (international, EU and national law), by mitigating some of the mentioned risks, in terms of the privacy and ethical challenges associated with Big Data use.