Putting people at the center

Not least the Corona crisis and the rapid development of vaccines have shown how crucial science, research, technology and innovation are for our lives. But technologies such as digitization, artificial intelligence and life sciences also play a central role in the ongoing transformation processes of the economy and society. A fundamental principle in all transformation processes and in any technology development must be that people, with their needs and values, are at the center of attention from the very beginning. This is the only way to ensure that technology serves people - and not the other way around. 

In science, this basic idea has become established under the term "human centricity" - which can only be translated very imperfectly as "people-centeredness". This topic is the focus of this year's yearbook for the Alpbach Technology Talks, which are taking place as part of the European Forum 2021 under the general theme "The Grat Transformation". The yearbook - which is being published for the fifth time this year - is intended as a scientific contribution to the Alpbach Technology Talks.

How central the topic of "Human Centered Innovation" is in current research and technology development can be illustrated by automation. There, the buzzword "Industry 5.0" has recently emerged. The basic idea here is that the production of goods in the future should not only be innovative and competitive, but also human-centered, sustainable and resilient. The EU has launched an Industry 5.0 initiative to this end. The topic also plays an important role in the European Green Deal and the EU digitization strategy.

As Andreas Kugi, professor of complex dynamic systems at the Technical University and co-director of the Center for Vision, Automation & Control at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, explains in the yearbook, this approach is tantamount to a change of perspective: while Industry 4.0 is a primarily technology-centric approach, Industry 5.0 embeds the production of goods in a larger context. "In Industrie 5.0, you use what is technically possible (and has been and is being developed as part of Industrie 4.0), but you use the technologies in a human-centric, sustainable and resilient way," Kugi explains.

And in his opinion, there is a very good reason for this: just a few years ago, many people thought that in the future everything would be produced fully automatically in factories that were devoid of people. But that doesn't make sense, says Kugi. And for several reasons. "The higher you push the level of automation, the more exceptional cases you have to take into account and the more costly it becomes. At some point, even when you look at it economically, you come to the point that it no longer makes sense to increase the degree of automation any further," the researcher explains. In addition to this economic argument, another point is that people have skills that even the most modern technologies cannot replace, or can only replace at extremely high cost. These include cognitive understanding of situations, dexterity, flexibility and communication skills, as well as innovation, problem-solving skills and creativity. 

The goal of Industry 5.0 is therefore: "We want to use the strengths of both - man and machine - and combine them in a meaningful way," says Kugi. To establish such collaborative systems, it is necessary to design the interfaces between humans and machines in such a way that they are tailored to human needs - so that humans can play to their strengths. 

So despite increasing automation, humans will continue to play a central role in the future - together with technology: "Technology should serve people," says Kugi. Automation can be used to outsource heavy, monotonous and dangerous tasks in particular to machines; automation is meant to create the time for humans to focus on their strengths. "Automation is not there to replace jobs, but transforms activities: Some are dropped, and new ones are added," Kugi emphasizes.

At the beginning of the Yearbook, the long and eventful history of the relationship between man and technology is traced - going back to the Stone Age to the problems that digitalization is confronting us with: Throughout the ages, discoveries and inventions have changed lives, thoughts and actions. "As co-editor Hannes Androsch puts it in the foreword to the Yearbook, "Every fundamental technological change brings about profound social change and a comprehensive process of transformation in social and economic systems. 

The main part of the book explores the question of how the human factor is integrated in the various disciplines. For example, in the design of human-machine interfaces. "When you design an interface, you determine how the system will face humans," explains Manfred Tscheligi, professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg and head of the AIT Center for Technology Experience. This includes not only "usability" - in other words, how well a system can be used - but also many other aspects, such as which emotional factors are involved. In the professional world, the term "experience" was introduced for this. 

"Looking at the human experience moves us forward in many ways. For us, people are a quality parameter: If people can't get along with a device, it can't be of good quality," Tscheligi explains. Moreover, in the human-centricity view, people are an innovation parameter: The more closely you look at people's needs, the more precisely you ask yourself what problems people have and in what situation they need what, the better you can do justice to people, and the more strongly you can trim the various aspects of a solution to this and implement them with the possibilities that technologies offer. "This is a driver for innovation: We believe that experience-led innovation and new ways of human-machine interaction are key building blocks for innovative and successful technologies." In particular, he said, it is important that a technology fits into our lives and ecosystem - and does not rule us. 

Robots of the future must therefore have much greater capabilities than today's robots. For example, as robotics researcher Matthias Scheutz (Tufts University, Boston, and AIT) argues, they would need to have a "certain understanding of social norms" so that machines could be better embedded in human contexts and collaboration between humans and machines could run smoothly. For a contemporary design of human-machine interfaces, science has developed a procedure and certain methods, which experience expert Markus Murtinger (AIT) explains in the yearbook.

The human factor plays a key role in virtually all aspects of modern technologies, especially in the digital transformation. For example, in the design of new teleworking and learning environments, in integrative urban and regional planning, in the transformation of companies, in autonomous driving cars, or in issues of artificial intelligence. 

But in many other areas beyond digital technologies, too, there is increasing awareness that systematic consideration of the human factor is essential. This ranges from the "One Health" approach, according to which human health cannot be separated from that of animals, plants and the environment, to the definition and simulation of scenarios for the future development of the global climate, to the necessary transformations of our social and economic systems.

And finally, the arts also remind us again and again that we humans must not bow to so-called "constraints", but can and must develop visions and desirable scenarios with creativity and a holistic view. This is illustrated by the concept of "climate modernity", which is the theme of the current VIENNA BIENNALE FOR CHANGE. Its director, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, argues in his contribution to the yearbook that art and creativity could contribute to the design of "climate modernity" with a broad spectrum of possibilities.

All participants in the Alpbach Technology Talks 2021 will be provided with a printed copy of the yearbook "Discussing Technology" free of charge. It is also available in bookshops (Holzhausen, 172 p., 36 euros, ISBN 978-3-903207-59-2).

The Alpbach Technology Talks, organized by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and ORF Radio Ö1, will take place for the 38th time this year on August 26 and 27 as part of the European Forum Alpbach. The theme of this year's talks is "The Great Transformation". Technologies such as digitization, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and life sciences play a central role in all transformation processes of the economy and society and will be discussed in detail at the Technology Talks. Other important questions are how research, technology and innovation will function in the post-Covid era and how we can best deal with the complexity of the "Green Transformation". Valuable contributions to dealing with the pressing questions of the future can also be made by the arts, which deepen an "Art of Radical Change".

A fundamental principle in any transformation must be that people, with their needs and values, are at the center of attention from the very beginning. This is the only way to ensure that technology serves people - and not the other way around.