On Thursday November 4, ITFLOWS Project Coordinator Dr. Cristina Blasi presented the ITFLOWS project at the eu-LISA Industry Roundtable “Artificial Intelligence and Large-Scale IT Systems: Opportunities and Challenges,” in the event’s first session from 13:00 – 16:30 CET.
eu-LISA is the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. This EU agency seeks to provide a long-term solution for the operational management of large-scale IT systems, crucial in implementing the EU’s asylum, border management and migration policies. The agency currently operates Eurodac, the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the Visa Information System (VIS), with several more systems in development.
This meeting aimed to bring together representatives of the IT industry, Member States’ authorities, and EU institutions, to exchange views on current developments. Before the ITFLOWS presentation, the event was launched by Mr. Krum Garkov, Executive Director of eu-LISA, with following remarks from Mr. Aleksander Pur, Senior Police Superintendent, IT and Telecommunications Office, Slovenian Ministry of the Interior, who spoke to the Slovenian experience regarding AI for law enforcement.
Dr. Blasi’s ITFLOWS presentation in the event’s first session, “AI for Advanced Data Analytics and Forecasting to Support Business Processes in the Area of Internal Security,” benefitted from feedback in the follow up Q&A. Attendees first asked if and how the project’s EUMigraTool would include conflicts or events driving migration that are not specified or included in databases. Dr. Blasi explained that the tool would benefit from a manual entry system in which technical partners would add in these specific events. Interested parties also wondered whether the EUMigraTool would provide information from origin and destination countries beyond those currently included. It was emphasized that while the EUMigraTool’s scope is currently contained due to time and resources, the ambition is to ultimately expand and include a wide range of countries.
Finally, in response to inquiries as to the reasoning and extent behind the EUMigraTool’s use of Twitter data, Dr. Blasi elaborated on how this data source was chosen given how Twitter represents a significant platform for migrant information sharing in the ITFLOWS-identified origin countries, speaking to migrant intentions. Twitter data also provides important complementary insights in the project’s objective of examining tensions between migrants and other EU populations. Of course, the project hopes to explore other social media platforms in the future to provide a more comprehensive picture of both of migrant intentions and risks of tensions.
For more details about the eu-LISA Industry Roundtable event, visit here. For more information regarding the agency itself, you can find this on the eu-LISA website, here
