10th Anniversary
2012
Eticas is born! The impact of her PhD leads Gemma Galdon Clavell, the founder of Eticas, to start an organisation to work exclusively on tackling the opportunities and challenges of technological innovation. Initially as a university spin-off, soon after as a stand alone organisation to cater to the growing demand for an emerging field: the legal, social and ethical impact of data-intensive technologies.
2014
Pioneering ethics research! First ever Ethics Work Package in a European R&D project. Eticas drafts and leads what is now a standard: a requirement for ethical issues to be monitored in research projects dealing with personal data. This pioneering project received 15M in funding from the European Commission.
2016
Promoting surveillance studies! Eticas hosts the 7th Biennial Surveillance and Society Conference in Barcelona to gather scholars and practitioners working on data issues. Surveillance Studies have had a foundational impact on current academic approaches to the impact of innovation.
A large, important contract! The European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) trusts Eticas with one of its largest ever project on the impact of Smart Borders on EU and non-EU countries. Eticas successfully created teams in 10 countries across 3 continents to produce pioneering socio-technical research on borders, technology and rights.
10th ANNIVERSARY ⸻
2017
International recognition! Gemma Galdon Clavell, EU Women Innovators Prize finalist
First algorithmic audit! Eticas starts auditing algorithms. Our first client was a health start-up, now Koa Health and our “oldest” client! Soon we were asked to audit an NLP system used by the city of Barcelona in social services and a recommender algorithm deployed by Allegheny County in the US to improve mental health services.
2018
The Eticas Foundation! The Eticas Foundation is created with the mission to protect people in technological processes and ensuring that everyone can benefit from technological advances without fear of being discriminated against or treated unfairly.
2020
Getting ready to scale! Eticas CEO and founder Gemma Galdon Clavell is selected as an Ashoka Fellow. With the support of a global network of social entrepreneurs, Eticas enters a scaling phase.
2021
Algorithmic Auditing Guide! Eticas launches the Guide to Algorithmic Auditing Guide under the commission and supervision of the Spanish Data Protection Agency with the objective not only of setting forth a general methodology that acts as a roadmap for auditing diverse algorithmic applications but also intended to broaden the general public’s knowledge as it’s a public interest matter nowadays that algorithms are making decisions that impact our daily lives.
Eticas in the media! Forbes features Gemma and Eticas as one of the top 100 Most Creative Spanish Businesses in 2021, and we began the relationship with this international media outlet, in which we were introduced internationally showing the importance of Algorithmic Auditing.
We launch OASI! Eticas launches OASI, the Observatory of Algorithms with Social Impact. This register aims to be a universal and global register of algorithms that classifies automated decision systems in regard to its social impact, destined as much to academia, governments and the general public. The objective of this project is to generate a public living record of all technologies being currently used as well as to increase public awareness on the potential harms of AI implementations.
04/2021
01/09/2021
10/2021
03/2022
03/2022
2022
Pioneering Algorithmic transparency in the workplace! Eticas colleagues along with different experts and coordinated by our CEO and founder Gemma Galdon develop the Algorithmic Transparency Guide in the Workplace for the Spanish Ministry of Labor, setting a pioneering approach to the companies obligations on the use of algorithmic information and mapping the laws involved in this matter.
We launch our strategic litigation initiative! Eticas Foundation kickstarts Acción por la Justicia Algorítmica (Action for Algorithmic Justice), a coalition formed to promote a fair use of data in technological innovation and to condemn bad practices driven by institutions that do not comply with transparency and ethical standards. It is a space that aims to ensure the defense of citizen’s rights in digital environments by means of strategic litigation.
03/2022
07/2022
08/2022
10th ANNIVERSARY ⸻
We start to audit externally! Eticas externally audits VioGen, an algorithm that predicts gender-violence risk used by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. This was a collaboration with the Ana Bella Foundation, a leading CSO working with women who have survived domestic violence and thus who, at some point or other, have had a risk score produced by the VioGén system. The External Audit concluded that VioGén is a case of a serious lack of transparency.
Our CEO, Gemma, joins the European Data Protection Board to work on the General Data Protection Regulation enforcement gap and especially on algorithmic audits, registries, leaflets, and scores.
US expansion! Eticas flies across the pond. After 10 years of experience working on data accountability, both as a company and as a foundation, Eticas is ready to make a more significant impact on society and cross the ocean to promote algorithmic fairness and auditing globally.