Penn Engineering launches Responsible Innovation Initiative at ...

Amy Gutmann Hall will expand Penn Engineering's research infrastructure, helping facilitate the Responsible Innovation Initiative. Credit: Kenny Chen

Penn Engineering launched the Responsible Innovation Initiative to operate at the intersection of tech and ethics and manage how future engineers approach technological innovations.

The Penn Engineering announcement of the initiative said that, by placing ethical considerations at the center of engineering education and research, it aims to ensure that technological advancement serves humanity's best interests. The initiative also coincides with a significant expansion of Penn's research infrastructure.

The expansion includes new facilities for collaborative artificial intelligence research and data science in Amy Gutmann Hall — which is set to open in early 2025 — and the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Sciences and Technology, which is set to open in December. These spaces will provide the foundation for integrating ethical considerations into engineering education and research, according to the announcement.

“At Penn, our values reaffirm Benjamin Franklin's vision of being open-minded and curious, inventive and practical, exhibiting brilliance across fields, imperfect but self-improving, and, above all, relentlessly focused on enhancing social good,” Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering Vijay Kumar told Penn Engineering Today.

During a panel discussion, Dan Koditschek — the Alfred Fitler Moore professor in electrical and eystems engineering — stressed the importance of ethical analysis, according to Penn Engineering Today, saying that "we need the ethicists."

"Collaboration among the humanities, the social sciences, engineering and science is essential for centering responsibility,” he added.

Penn Washington and the Perry World House co-hosted an event to launch the initiative in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 17. During the event, Ted Schlein — a venture capitalist, cybersecurity expert, and Penn Trustee — offered insight from Silicon Valley's perspective about the need for "guardrails," according to Penn Engineering Today.

“It takes innovators, and it also takes legislators and, dare I say, sometimes, regulators,” he said, emphasizing the need for oversight in technological advancement.

The launch event was attended by several Penn alumni and current students. Penn Engineering's leadership and faculty spoke about recent work being done at Penn and the "need to guide innovation to socially responsible ends," according to Penn Engineering Today.