MIICT - SYNYO GmbH

MIICT: Final conference on co-creating ICT solutions to aid migrant integration

leo — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 08:02:09 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Final conference on co-creating ICT solutions to aid migrant integration

The MIICT project presented the final project outputs at the conference titled “Co-creating ICT solutions to aid migrant integration: challenges, solutions and sustainability.” The panels focused on co-creation methods, evidence-based field research in Spain, Cyprus and Italy, the technological solutions developed by the MIICT consortium – such as the IMMERSE platform – and finally, the sustainability of project outputs.

As the MIICT project came to an end, the project outputs were presented at a final conference that attracted over 80 participants from academia, policy circles, and civil society. In six panels, the conference covered different steps that were necessary in the development of ICT solutions for migrant integration. Speakers included members of the MIICT consortium from the fields of computer science, social science, law and engineering, as well as partners from the NGO sector. Furthermore, guest speakers from the sister projects EasyRights, Welcome, and MICADO also provided their input in selected panels.

In order to provide a wide-ranging exchange with key stakeholders, the conference included presentations by IOM, the Spanish Red Cross, UNHCR Cyprus, the European Commission DG NEAR and the Court of Minors of Trento. This goes with the spirit of MIICT, which is based on the ambition to contribute to pressing policy debates on migrants’ integration in Europe.

Conference program

The conference featured six panels which are summarized below:

Panel 1 focused on the co-creation methodology applied in the MIICT project. Dr Karen Latricia Hough, Sheffield Hallam University, discussed how ICT solutions can provide efficient and effective integration when they are co-created by developers and end users. The panellists stressed that co-creative methods can have a transformative effect on participating migrants, but they also come with challenges: The presentations highlighted the knowledge gap that often exists between project and policy designers and field-based practitioners. Petya Peteva, Law and Internet Foundation, also addressed the legal and ethical considerations surrounding the development of ICT solutions for migrants’ integration in this panel.

Panel 2-4 were dedicated to field research in the piloting locations of the MIICT project: Italy, Spain and Cyprus. The discussions demonstrated the importance to customize ICT solutions based on local needs. Insights from the field by practitioners (Spanish Red Cross, UNHCR Cyprus, Court of Minors of Trento) highlighted the diverse challenges faced by migrants and refugees during their journey and when arriving in a host country. ICT providers need to take into consideration local hurdles to integration as well as the bureaucratic frameworks and distribution of responsibilities between governmental, and non-governmental organizations, as well as between different levels of government (municipalities, regional and national governments) when designing ICT tools.

In Panel 5, Dimos Ntioudis, CERTH, presented the technological solution developed in the MIICT project – the IMMERSE platform. In this session, the participants were also asked to provide further feedback on the platform, to assess its usability in different local contexts. Furthermore, the IMMERSE platform was compared to an AI-based technological solution which is currently being developed in the Welcome project.

The last panel, centred on the topic of impact and sustainability. Tuomas Tammilehto, Laurea University, discussed the topic of how to measure the societal impact of the MIICT project. Theoni Spathi, CERTH, presented the policy recommendations drafted by the MIICT consortium and the sister projects, which are aimed at influencing policy-making at the EU level.

The full program as well as the presentations can be accessed on the project website.

Take aways

The conference provided an opportunity to get informed about the diverse outputs created in the lifetime of the MIICT project. The discussions during the event pointed to the continued need to support migrants’ integration in host countries by using ICT tools, and therefore, the ongoing relevance of the MIICT project outputs.

While participants from the NGO sector reiterated their interest in using the IMMERSE platform, important questions related to the administration, hosting and funding for maintenance and further development the platform were listed as potential hurdles in the uptake of digital solutions like IMMERSE.

Despite the end of the MIICT project, the consortium partners will remain in contact to develop a strategy for the roll out of the IMMERSE platform. A plan for uptake will be developed in cooperation with future administrators of the platform.

https://www.miict.eu/miict-final-event/

Keywords

Co-creation, participatory design, migration, ICT, platform

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MIICT: Co-Created IMMERSE platform for public service access transformation and migrant integration

leo — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 07:24:47 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Co-Created IMMERSE platform for public service access transformation and migrant integration

MIICT has designed, developed and deployed the digital IMMERSE platform that addresses the management of migrant integration, the customisation of services to match migrants’ needs and the need for sustained and improved inclusion of migrants. This evidence-based and inclusive platform aims to improve labour market access, matching individuals with jobs and development opportunities based upon their specific and unique contexts.

Considering the technical roadmap of the project, the implementation of the IMMERSE platform followed an iterative approach, beginning from an initial paper prototype to the platform version that has been piloted in the partner countries. Since the beginning of the project, specific use cases and user requirements have been outlined on behalf of the end-users from the pilot locations. This article briefly demonstrates the functionalities and services that have been implemented and are to be tested during the 6-month SSD phase.

Provided services and functionalities

Based on the user requirements and the outcomes of co-creation workshops, the following modules have been developed. They are separated along their interactive notion, with some of them focussing on providing information and others focussing on delivering services. While the information modules and the service modules can be accessed and reviewed without a registration by the users, the users have to register if they want to interact with the services modules, submit applications and review recommendations based on the matchmaking functionality that depends on the existence of a user profile.

Information services

Language
Education
Health
Transportation
Status
Civil society support
Welfare, State and Local Support
Employment

Interactive services

Find training courses
Find local support and help
Become a volunteer
Ask an expert

Customization

Due to the flexibility of the system architecture, the IMMERSE platform can be customized according to the user requirements. This not only includes the available languages, but also the activation and de-activation of single modules and functionalities (and therefore services) in order to fulfil the high-level-requirement of providing a “plug-and-play” architecture.

Based on the pilot country preferences, only selected functionalities have been activated for the MIICT-pilots in Cyprus, Spain, and Italy. While in Italy for example, most of the information functionalities are available, the services module has been limited to two core functionalities. A screenshot from the Cyprus landing page in Greek is given below. As the Cyprus pilot partners emphasized the significance of French for their work, the full system is also provided in French (see Figure 6). However, of course also the other languages including Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic are available and can be selected by users in order to allow maximum flexibility and service for the end-users.

Home Page of the Cyprus version

User profiles

Considering the selected services, three user roles (in addition to the admin roles) have been implemented. User roles are reserved for migrants, service providers and volunteers.

User profile registration (in Greek)

Each user upon registration has access to a user panel where they can maintain information and data. More specifically, service providers can manage their profile information, create, and manage their posts, review applications made by users etc. Similarly, migrant users can create manage their applications, review their favourite posts and change their notification settings. In addition, volunteer users can manage their profile information, review their applications and favourite posts.

Panel of Migrant User

Information content

The IMMERSE platform addresses the provision of information to its users. In Cyprus, the information has been grouped into major categories, which have been identified in the requirements analysis and the co-creation workshops in April and October of 2019. Each information page is accessible through the top header menu. In each information page users can either search for information using a search bar or by utilizing available filters. Each post consists of a title, a description and other useful information depending on the type of the post. In addition, each post has a link that re-directs to the official resource for the information. All the information is added and maintained the administrators and is validated before being added to the IMMERSE.

Information page on Education category (in Greek)

Interactive content

IMMERSE also facilitates a set of services where users such as migrants can find opportunities and interact by responding to posts provided by a service provider, showing their interest in an event, or get in contact with the organizers for more information. In Cyprus, a total of 4 services have been implemented.

These include:

a) Find Training Courses
b) Find Local Support and Help
c) Become a Volunteer
d) Ask an Expert

For each service, a form has been implemented to create a new post that will later become available in the user interface.

Form for Providing a Training Course

Events calendar

IMMERSE hosts a dedicated Events Calendar to inform the users about upcoming events that are available in their country or area. It presents relevant events in a country such as neighbourhood meetings, music events or even free language courses. In addition to being able to access the information in different languages, the calendar allows the users to suggest physical and virtual events, which are then assessed and posted by the national platform administrator (yet to be determined). The following figure shows the events calendar for Cyprus in French.

Events Calendar

User guides

Finally, two additional guides have been developed in order to provide information and instructions on the different tasks that can be performed by each user role. A User Guide dedicated to migrant users and service providers and an Admin Guide dedicated to the users that will administer the platform.

User Guide example (in Greek)

Links

https://www.miict.eu

Keywords

ICT platform, job finder, matchmaking, dashboard

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MIICT: Developing policy recommendations for improving migrant integration in Europe

SYNYO — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 05:59:09 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Developing policy recommendations for improving migrant integration in Europe

The MIICT project works towards the development of ICT-enabled solutions and toolkits to enhance migrant’s integration. It also proposes inclusion policies by public administrations and the civil society. For this purpose, the partners have conducted parallel discussions with experts in the field of migration, aiming not only to positively influence existing policies but also to propose new recommendations relevant to migrant integration

MIICT is not only focussing on developing the innovative IMMERSE platform with information and services for migrants, but it also presents recommendations on existing policies around migration issues. For developing the policy recommendations, the project has developed several dedicated policy briefs and has organized a Joint Migration Policy Roundtable in cooperation with the EU-funded sister projects. This effort resulted in a Joint Policy Whitepaper, which has been adopted by the European Commission. While MIICT is aligned with the recommendations outlined in the Joint Migration Policies White paper, the project proposes further MIICT specific policy recommendations:

Capitalise on a Change Management Component.

MIICT recommends that EU projects need to capitalize on certain Change Management Processes, parallel to the developed ICT solutions. In that way, projects could guide the relevant stakeholders through a series of changes (in procedures, mentality, and work approach) that they may experience when the latter will try to apply the ICT solutions. This goes beyond the standard practices of training sessions and manuals. It requests institutional change that includes the adoption new processes, resistance management as well as coaching, feedback analysis and corrective actions that will ensure a long-term implementation of innovative solutions.

Capitalize on cooperation and coordination among stakeholders, focusing on organisational engagement rather than on individual participation.

In order to improve integration procedures and services, the MIICT project recommends a shift from the involvement of individuals within organisations towards the overall commitment of organizations on a local and regional level (e.g., NGOs, public service providers etc.). This will help to facilitate engagement, support and acceptance of priorities and innovations.

Encourage active participation through introducing certain incentives for all possible stakeholders.

The MIICT project recommends that integration related projects, which aim to involve all relevant stakeholders, get support and guidance from the EU and the EC. This includes boosting the engagement of public authorities through open EU invitations, setting up a joint area of best practice exchange around incentives used in other EU projects, as well as setting up a list of legal and ethical frameworks and considerations for incentives that could be used in future activities.

Highlight the active participation of migrant representatives and local communities and citizens from diverse backgrounds to shape decision-making.

MIICT recommends to include diversity as a major factor in the policy making process and to integrate the gender dimension for ICT related services. Furthermore, existing technological solutions need to be accessible to persons with disabilities. As cultural change and digital transformation builds on the involvement of local communities and citizens, co-creation and participatory approaches for developing ICT solutions are seen as a core approach to make them inclusive for the community as a whole. Additionally, also local communities themselves should underline the message of importance on digitalization, pushing forward the need for cultural change at different levels of society.

Focus on the way existing technological solutions (e.g., translation services etc.) could evolve to support multi-faceted ICT solutions that respect cultural diversity among end users.

Innovation, research, and development are the main areas of focus by EU funded projects under this call. Following up from the previous MIICT specific recommendation, the need to zoom in to more practical aspects of the platform was underlined. For example, taking into consideration language differences issues, by deploying technology tools for translation to support a greater variety of migrants and other stakeholders enhances the user-friendliness and comprehensiveness of ICT solutions / platforms by making them available in different languages. This will enhance further migrants’ integration.

Capitalise on the momentum of digitization of public services related to COVID-19 pandemic and invest in digital transformation as well as stakeholder training.

MIICT recommends to continuously train public administrations and service providers and raise their digital skills and literacy. If this is not done, digital instruments such as the ones promoted by MIICT would not find fruitful ground. The fact that the EC could introduce Directives to the Member States to incorporate new technologies and display their affinity to innovation through incentives such as an “innovation badge” as a certificate or similar that the authorities can use for self-marketing is fully supported.

Capitalize on funding and sustainability issues related to ICT proposed solutions, where the EC can play a pivotal role of support.

MIICT recommends to launch of information campaigns that act as an additional catalyst to the publicity of the proposed technical solutions. They can facilitate potential future funding opportunities among interested parties. In addition to that, the EC can play an important role towards and beyond the sustainability and further exploitation of the proposed solutions by providing additional funding opportunities for relevant actions that aim to ensure the continuity of such novel solutions. The EC can also support the outreach activities of the projects, through the active participation of experts to project events, through tools and dedicated websites that are being set up for this purpose, as well as by drawing the attention of certain European entities that have the capacity to boost the visibility of the project results.

Links

https://www.miict.eu/media-centre/

Keywords

Migration, policy recommendation, whitepaper, digitalisation

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MIICT: Defining the design frames for the IMMERSE platform development and implementation

SYNYO — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 17:23:31 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Defining the design frames for the IMMERSE platform development and implementation

Design Frames are practical techniques used in co-design and co-creation as well as projects focussing on human-centred design, where future system users contribute to the definition of ICT solutions’ functional requirements. The MIICT design frames define the major challenges to be overcome at each pilot location and generally throughout Europe to enhance migrant’s integration in local communities and support the accessibility of public services

Design frames are following the co-creation approach and represent the core of the framework that is used for designing the IMMERSE system. The design frames for MIICT are building on the requirements analysis conducted through interviews as well as on the multi-phase co-creation workshop conducted in the pilot sites.

The design frames were produced as part of the framing and case studies definition. The process was implemented in an iterative way that included nine dedicated steps, where the design frames were continuously tested and revised. This procedure helped to define discrete sets of functional requirements of ICT solutions that contributed directly to the ultimate objective of enhancing migrants’ integration.

The steps include the specification of the objective, the definition of the initial design questions, the definition of the impact areas, the refinement of the design questions at pilot locations, the identification of challenges at pilot locations, the proposition of major possible solutions, the consideration of context and constraints, and the revision of solutions against the background of the context, constraints and the ultimate objective.

Through the design frames definition, the specific workflows for each identified challenge and hence service shaped the general outline of the IMMERSE platform. Each end user is intended to have access to each of the pillars – depending if they would like to either receive more information or to have access to certain tailor-made services. The users can select the country as well as the language. They can navigate through the features of the platform that are either publicly accessible or that require registration and a user profile.

These features, which have been defined in the iterative requirements and co-creation processes, have been translated into technical requirements and developed for the IMMERSE platform. In the following months, the platform will be tested and piloted in several iterations as well as optimized based on the user feedback.

Links

https://www.miict.eu

Keywords

Migration, platform development, ICT, design, co-creation

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MIICT: Requirements elicitation, co-creation and participatory design with migrants in Italy, Spain and Cyprus

SYNYO — Sat, 04 Jan 2020 07:33:27 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Requirements elicitation, co-creation and participatory design with migrants in Italy, Spain and Cyprus

The MIICT project is building on the co-creation methodology to involve the future end-users of the outcomes in the concept and design phase. The mind mapping and paper prototyping exercises, which were conducted with migrants, non-profit organisations and service providers from Italy, Spain and Cyprus, highlighted the main challenges for integration and drafted concepts and approaches for the online platform.

For framing and shaping the MIICT outcomes according to the perspective of migrants, public sector services, NGO partners and subject-matter experts, the partners applied an intense co-creation research process. Two sets of workshops at all three pilot locations in Italy, Cyprus and Spain were conducted for mapping the challenges and proposing solutions to be addressed in MIICT.

In the first set of workshops, which took place in April 2019, cognitive and context mapping were used to create mind-maps as well as storyboards that elaborate abstract processes. In the second set of workshops, which took place in October 2019, mind maps were used to elaborate on the type and form of IT- enabled services in order to overcome the identified challenges along nine core pillars, which represent the major challenges for the target groups: Education, Housing, Health, Inclusion, Social Security, Employment, Language, Transportation and Status.

Aims and implementation

The prototyping workshops aimed at co-designing public service transformations using ICTs. Prototyping was used to explore, evaluate, and communicate how participants might behave in or experience a future service situation. Prototyping was an essential activity to reduce risk and uncertainty as early and as cheaply as possible, to improve the quality of IMMERSE services, and to implement the MIICT project successfully. In each workshop members from MIICT design (researchers) and development (technical experts) teams participated alongside migrants, service providers and NGOs participants.

During the paper Prototyping workshops, the participants assessed the envisioned services that were drafted against the background of the initial user requirements, which were collected in a series of interviews. A section of services with one or two services per module were presented to the participants. The participants worked with printed mock-ups or paper prototypes, which visualized very first drafts of the services. Furthermore, input was requested and provided by participants to further develop and improve the initial requirements against the background of the general concept, the usability, the wording and the design. To further engage participants and allow them to contribute to the actual development of ICT services, tablets were used for testing the initial drafts of the user interfaces of selected services and for stimulating the creativity.

This workshop round proved again the power of co-creation. Creating and designing ICT tools and services together with different types of users enables researchers and developers to add value and reliability to the services. This time-consuming but fruitful approach has been supporting the engagement with the end-users and will furthermore support the sustainability of the core outcome of MIICT: the digital IMMERSE platform.

Links

http://www.miict.eu

Keywords

Co-creation, participatory design, migration, ICT, platform

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MIICT Project Kickoff Meeting

SYNYO — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 11:41:00 +0000

MIICT Project Kickoff Meeting

From November 13-15, 2018, the new H2020-project MIICT was launched in Sheffield, UK. MIICT (ICT Enabled Services for Migration) was conceived with the goal of designing, developing and deploying tools that address the challenge of migrant integration. In service of this goal, the 15 project partners will co-create improved ICT-enabled services with migrants, refugees, public sector services, NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organisations) and other interest groups. By involving research-users at the centre of our approach we address the need to improve and customise the interfaces used to access key public services so that they better address the requirements of migrants and refugees.

The project is coordinated by CENTRIC (Sheffield Hallam University) and SYNYO is leading the dissemination and communication work package. Furthermore, SYNYO is involved in the design of the end-user applications as well as in the piloting of the tools. Find more information on the project website: www.miict.eu

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MIICT: Co-creating new ICT-enabled services for migrant integration and migration management

SYNYO — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 08:44:58 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Co-creating new ICT-enabled services for migrant integration and migration management

MIICT aims to support the integration of migrants and refugees by providing access to key information and services through ICT-enabled solutions as well as the options to take advantage of those services. The project is building on a dedicated co-creation and co-design approach for developing the IMMERSE platform. Through intuitive user interfaces, which will be developed together with the end-users, the platform matches offer from authorized service providers with profiles of migrants and allows them to make use of them as part of their integration process.

Previous research has shown that housing, social integration, employment, interactivity, training and education are major challenges and at the same time crucial factors for a successful integration of migrants. Of course, migrants are not a homogenous group and include individuals of different age groups, genders, education levels and immigration status. The status, culture and migration pathways as well as institutional constraints shape the experiences of migrants. Migration and the processes towards integration are highly complex and indicate the diversity in the migration and integration process.

The Innovation Action (IA) project “MIICT: ICT Enabled Public Services for Migration” funded by the European Commission through the framework programme Horizon 2020 (H2020) in the course of the call “Addressing the challenge of migrant integration through ICT-enabled solutions“ (DT-MIGRATION-06-2018-2019) was conceived with the goal of designing, developing and deploying tools that address the challenge of migrant integration. In service of this goal, the project undertakes to co-create ICT-enabled services with migrants, refugees, public sector services, NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organisations) and other interest groups.

By involving migrants, helping organizations and public bodies as well as policy makers in the project, MIICT aims to create useful services provided through intuitive interfaces to allow access to key public services. The aim is to design the services in a way that they actually address the requirements of migrants and refugees.

MIICT will be implemented by a total of 15 partners, which are coordinated by the Sheffield Hallam University (UK). In addition to SYNYO GmbH (Austria), the partnership includes Center for Security Research (Greece), Laurea University (Finland), Law and Internet Foundation (Bulgaria), Aditess LTD (Cyprus), Certh (Greece), Agenfor International (Italy), Eurothink (Republic of North-Macedonia), Ministry of Justice (Italy), FUNDEA Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (Spain), Center for the Study of Democracy (Bulgaria), Caritas Cyprus (Cyprus), Municipality of Engomi (Cyprus) and the Association for Local Democracy (France).

During the project duration of 36 months, SYNYO will be responsible for designing and implementing the user interface of the IMMERSE online platform. The IMMERSE platform will improve the autonomy of migrants to search for jobs, housing, education and other opportunities as well as for social integration offers. The platform will host a dashboard for public authorities to assess the contexts, including social, economic and other factors for improving local support systems. Also, IMMERSE will allow providers to include services such as education, welfare, employment and healthcare in host countries for matching them with the skills and requests by migrants.

In addition to being one of the core technology and development partners, SYNYO will furthermore be involved in the co-creation workshops and the piloting in Cyprus, Italy and Spain. Finally, SYNYO will also lead the dissemination, communication and exploitation activities for boosting the visibility, impact and sustainability of the MIICT project.

Project objectives

MIICT addresses the following major objectives:

Co-design ICTs to assist in the integration of refugee and migrant populations through the provision of customised access to key public services
Develop an adaptive ‘plug-and-play’ integration framework for the incorporation of new ICTs into existing public service infrastructure
Improve migrant integration management by providing a job and skills matching decision support tool – IMMERSE
Deepen societal understanding of the factors that impact upon refugee and migrant populations ability to access key public services
Produce a repeatable and proven open consolidated methodology for co-designing ICTs for public sector service transformation
Integrate, demonstrate and rigorously test a number of co -designed ICTs that streamline access to public services and ease the integration of refugee communities

These objectives will be implemented along the three main phases of the project, which are focussing on Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation. The project is therefore situated within the wider concept of a human-centred design, which puts the end-users and key stakeholders at the centre of the requirements elicitation, solution design and development process.

Links

www.miict.eu

Keywords

Migration, integration, ICT, online services, digital platform, public authorities, dashboard, database, matchmaking

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MIICT: Following the “inclusivity by design” principle for IMMERSE through the inclusivity handbook

SYNYO — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 08:29:39 +0000

MIICT

MIICT: Following the “inclusivity by design” principle for IMMERSE through the inclusivity handbook

Due to the increasing diversity of our societies, it is crucial to revise existing structures and to establish new standards for public services and e-government. The integration of equality and diversity principles can support the inclusiveness of such services. Therefore, when developing e-services of the future, it is not enough to take novel approaches such as “privacy by design” into account. In order to reflect societal realities, “inclusivity by design” – as it is outlined in the dedicated Inclusivity Handbook by MIICT – needs to become the standard of future e-government services.

Both equality and diversity are crucial for research on and with migrants. At the same time, these concepts are also contested especially in the policy context, where for example the entitlement for political participation or the access to particular services is related to citizenship or a particular status of residence. With the continuous rise of multiculturalism and globalisation, however, equality and diversity are crucial for the future of democracy in Europe and its member states.

In order to ensure that the information and services platform IMMERSE, which will be developed in the MIICT project and aims for supporting migrant integration, follows the “inclusivity by design” principle, the project developed a dedicated Inclusivity Handbook. The handbook, which is available on the project website, addresses the question of how to guarantee equality and diversity in public services. Building on a discussion of the phenomenon of discrimination as well as gender equality in relation to public services, the handbook elaborates on the concept of inclusion of migrants and refugees.

A particular focus is put on the issue of how to guarantee the inclusion of migrants and refugees in public sector services. The handbook emphasizes that a number of measures can be taken to improve the inclusion of migrants and refugees in the public services. These include, for example, the improvement of coordination measures for integration policies across government levels, the need for coherence when addressing the needs of migrants, the effective use of financial resources to support integration, the cooperation between public authorities and civil society organisations as well as the matching of skills with job opportunities. Furthermore, the measures also highlight the need for simplifying the access to benefits and services in general – and training as well as education in particular.

Inclusion and data protection

The IMMERSE platform will be the main outcome of the MIICT project. Hence, while designing the online tool a particular focus will not only be put on “inclusivity by design”, but also on “privacy by design”. For addressing related issues, the handbook emphasizes the relevance of data protection in the context of inclusion. The inclusion of migrants and refugees refers to their social, economic and political integration in a country. Protection of the personal data of migrants and refugees is especially important in the context of their inclusion, because for example migrant workers often encounter abuses of their labour rights and other forms of mistreatment. Different players are involved such as recruitment agencies, which contract migrants to poor and unsafe working environments. Furthermore, they are sometimes involved in other criminal practices such as forced labour or human trafficking. Personal data could be used to harm these people or their families and hence they might become a means of pressure.

For the MIICT project, the partners therefore agreed on several basic principles for developing the IMMERSE platform that are emphasized in the handbook (p. 59):

No matter whose data is collected, it should be properly analysed and used to inform programming, and must be handled according to standards and practices for management of personal and sensitive data.
A date controller or processor must identify the legal basis by which the processing of personal data is permitted.
Appropriate care should be taken to not raise expectations, and ensure a clear accountability towards the respondents.
Any risks linked to identifying persons as having a disability must be considered prior to designing the data model and the processes that aim at skills and opportunities matchmaking.

The MIICT consortium emphasizes that a strong data protection framework can help to empower individuals and limit data exploitation. The IMMERSE platform, including the related data models, will therefore be conceptualized and programmed along the principles “inclusivity by design” and “privacy by design”, where the individuals do have the rights over their data. While processing the personal data of migrants involved in public services, the data controllers will therefore aim for the consent of the users before using information or data. The improvement of data protection is a seminal issue that supports the inclusion of migrants through a different way of thinking.

Links

https://www.miict.eu/media-centre/

Keywords

Inclusivity, Ethics, Handbook, GDPR, vulnerable groups