Newsletter 
At a time when debates around AI and digital technologies are taking center stage, this evening offers an original perspective on contemporary digital technology: not only what these technologies promise, but also what they transform, what they make possible, and the responsibilities they entail.
At the French Institute of Finland, two leading researchers, Maxime Pelcat and Nicolas Mansard, will invite the general public to explore the intersection of technological innovation, environmental reflection, and collective responsibility.
Digital innovations are profoundly transforming our societies. For them to constitute genuine progress, it is essential to understand both their potential and their limitations, as well as to assess their material, environmental, and societal costs alongside their benefits—especially at a time when technological advances are progressing faster than legal frameworks and public debate.
This event allows you to move beyond fascination and fear in order to better understand the technical and ecological realities shaping today’s digital world, as well as the choices and opportunities that it is up to us collectively to support and bring to fruition, on the basis of clear and comprehensive information.
The event will be held in both French and English: the presentations will be delivered in French with live, automatically generated English subtitles. The Q&A session that follows may take place in either English or French.
Free entry upon registration.
Speakers
- Maxime Pelcat is a professor at INSA Rennes and a researcher at IETR (a CNRS research unit). He will present the challenges of eco-design in digital systems, outlining the solutions available in terms of materials, combating obsolescence, and recycling.
- Nicolas Mansard is a permanent researcher at LAAS/CNRS. He will provide the foundations for understanding the current state of robotics, helping to approach more calmly the societal questions that these technologies are bound to raise in the years to come.
Summaries of the presentations and descriptions of the speakers’ academic backgrounds are available HERE.