Apéro Digital. Freeing minds: Responsible Development of Neurotechnology

​Neurotechnologies enable the measurement, monitoring, and stimulation of the human brain, with applications ranging from medical treatments and brain–computer interfaces to consumer technologies that track sleep or enhance attention. While they hold great promise for improving health and quality of life, they also raise critical questions around privacy, autonomy, and social inequality—especially as brain data is increasingly processed using AI.

​The 7th edition of Apéro Digital brings together perspectives from research, policy, and industry to explore how neurotechnologies can be developed responsibly. The event features Ricardo Chavarriaga (ZHAW) on challenges and opportunities in neurotechnologies, Roberto Andorno (UZH) on governance frameworks, and Philipp Eger (IDUN Technologies) on responsible practices in neurotechnology companies.

​About the event format:

​Combining techniques of technology foresight, storytelling, and sharing of lived experiences, Apéro Digital facilitates the co-creation of reflexive environments to support the understanding of societal transformations around digitalisation. Each event will result in a tangible artefact that is co-produced by participants. These outputs may be technical, argumentative, artistic, or analytical, all with the aim of adding values to the collective reflections about, and strategic navigation around, societal challenges posed by the ongoing digital transformation.

​The project is a collaboration between The BRIDGE Lab at UZH and the Responsible AI Innovation Group at ZHAW, funded by the DIZH and supported by a wide range of project partners, including Canton of Zurich, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), TA Swiss, Zurich Knowledge Center of Sustainable Development (ZKSD), Swiss Post Innovation, Data Innovation Alliance (d+i), Algorithm Watch, Dezentrum, Swiss Digital Initiative (SDI), and Innovation Booster Robotics.