Event Report: Prof Abbe Brown's (En)lightening Talk on Clashing Forms of Regulation and Right

On 2 December 2022, Professor Abbe Brown (University of Aberdeen) presented a talk on her project to develop new theoretical approaches and practical ways which can be applied to regimes to address societal challenges in environmental sustainability, health and climate change through data and technology. The talk was hosted by the Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN) and the event was moderated by Dr Guido de la Nota (University of Stirling). 

Prof Brown's project considers how and why stakeholders in different regimes, such as IP and health, with different but interrelated goals usually refrain from directly engaging with some of the relevant technology and data regimes. In her view, such evasiveness presents potential challenges to the technology and data-driven developmental solutions.

As a discussant, Professor Caroline Ncube’s take away was that there should be no perceived no go areas in any of these regimes, and all aspects need to be directly engaged with by multi-stakeholders so that the potential clashes between regimes be adequately addressed so that technology and data can offer increased societal benefits.