Law and Innovation: Chronicle of a Marriage Foretold
Electronics engineers and legal scholars working hand in hand: this is the pioneering approach implemented by the Institute of Electronics and Systems (IES) and the “Dynamiques du droit” laboratory at the University of Montpellier.
The smart city? We’re hearing more and more about it. Alain Foucaran is certainly not the only one discussing the concept—which is hardly surprising for the director of an Institute of Electronics whose mission is to develop key innovations for the modern city. A city“littered with sensors,” he says: “managing water, energy, health, security issues, population flows… In all these areas and many others besides, the devices designed by the IES provide concrete solutions.”
“Any innovation can face obstacles”
Devices that are both smart and autonomous, designed to meet emerging needs… but which can pose entirely new problems. For example: What happens to the data about us? Should I allow myself to be “geolocated”? Credit card glitches, infringements on civil liberties, data ownership, cybercrime… The list of potential harms for which our wonderful electronic servants could be held responsible is long. “Any innovation can encounter obstacles,”sums up Alain Foucaran. Yet while in the past we were content to settle disputes as they arose, today we’d like to anticipate in advance what backlash might be expected. This is an area where electronics engineers admit their limitations…
Anticipating Societal Barriers
For the past year, the IES has been collaborating with a research laboratory focused on very different areas: the “Dynamics of Law” research unit led by Éric de Mari, a professor at the University of Montpellier. The goal is to explore the legal implications of technical innovations in order to prevent litigation. “When difficulties arise, the individuals or organizations that have been harmed invariably turn against the company that developed the technology in question,”says Éric de Mari. Consulted downstream on invention patents and copyright protection, the experts at the “UM ” are therefore also entrusted with a genuine forward-looking mission upstream: it is up to them to anticipate future obstacles.
It’s a role that suits them quite well, continues Éric de Mari, who is pleased with the already fruitful collaboration with the IES. “We often think of the law as an auxiliary tool that’s there to maintain order. But this discipline also drives innovation. In a society in constant flux, the rules of social coexistence must be continually reinvented. It’s up to us to explore this creative dimension of the law.”