Berkeley Ethics and Regulation Group for Innovative Technologies

Salmon and yellow speech bubbles against a dark blue background with the acronym, BERGIT written

The Berkeley Ethics and Regulation Group for Innovative Technologies (BERGIT) is an ideas exchange and a meeting ground for discussions across disciplines to integrate ethics, regulation, and policy with science. Our goal is to provide space for discussion, facilitate insight, and instigate a proactive cultural shift in responsible innovation. BERGIT is led by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in Ethics, Law, Public Health, and Molecular Biology and has participants from the Bay Area and beyond.

Upon the creation of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, BERGIT has become a program co-hosted by the Kavli Center and the Innovative Genomics Institute, where it began. The Kavli Center has brought in expertise in AI and Neuroscience and provides the catalyst to expand topics and create new series integrated with the Kavli Fellows.

For past series and information about the origin of BERGIT, please visit the Innovative Genomics Institute.

Innovation Within Society: The role of markets and the political economy in the governance of innovative technology.

Science and technology are developed in a society and are therefore subject to social frameworks, including capitalism and the political economy. In this series we will examine three different innovative technologies in the context of the political economy; some with an existing regulatory environment, and some without. We'll ask whether different ethical concerns are raised when different things are monetized. How does the political economy impact our willingness to regulate, what are potential solutions, and what are the individual versus collective responsibilities that flow from these realities?

Invited speakers introduce ethical questions raised by the political economy in three innovative technologies:

AI & digital information: "How digital technologies influence cognition and democracy"
Genome editing therapies: "Incentives in the commercialization of new drugs"
Neurotechnology: "Collective cognitive capital"

Each meeting will feature presentations followed by group discussions. Through this series, we aim to begin to ask whether different ethical concerns are raised when different things are monetized. How does the political economy impact our willingness to regulate, and what are the individual versus collective responsibilities that flow from these realities?

How digital technologies influence cognition and democracy | 3/22/23

Incentives in the Commercialization of New Drugs - The Orphan Drug Act & Public Benefit Corporations | 6/29/23

Collective Cognitive Capital – Translating brain and behavioral science into public policy to promote human flourishing | 7/13/23

Berkeley Ethics and Regulation Group for Innovative Technologies

About the Group

Series Theme

Innovation Within Society: The role of markets and the political economy in the governance of innovative technology.

Meetings

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