On 10 February 10.30-14.00 (Estonian time) EMN and OECD are organising a joint Roundtable on Digitalisation in Migration Management.

Policymakers are increasingly turning to digital systems and innovative technologies to support situational awareness and the planning, development, and implementation of policies in migration management. The EMN-OECD Roundtable aims to stimulate critical discussion on these topics, with presentations highlighting forward-looking research and from practitioners working on developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications and digital technologies.

The European digital strategy fosters the digital transformation of public services in the EU, stressing the importance of a society powered by digital solutions. As such, digital technologies can be useful for example to support asylum, legal migration and return procedures. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals emphasise the importance of digitalisation and data management and the Pact places a specific emphasis on early warning and forecasting of migration flows. From forecasting migration patterns and using video conferencing to conducting remote interviews, to providing digital visas and services using ‘chatbots’, policymakers and public services have found wide applications of smart digital services. At the same time, safeguarding privacy and ethical standards remains a critical challenge that must be addressed as technology develops, and it has been widely agreed that AI and digital technologies cannot replace the human factor in all processes.

The European Migration Network’s (EMN) inform on the ‘Use of digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence in migration management,’ part of the inform series on Innovation in Migration, will be presented during the Roundtable, which aims to foster further debate on the opportunities and challenges of harnessing digital technologies in the migration area, and to showcase innovative practices.

The Roundtable is open to a wide range of audiences, including policy makers, practitioners, civil society, non-governmental organisations, academia and private sector experts in digitalisation and AI technologies such as migration-oriented start-ups using AI and blockchain technologies in the migration field.

The working language of the seminar is English.

More information and registration can be found HERE.