Digital innovation is transforming the service economy and public services in significant ways. If harnessed to the wrong economic and socio-political model, technological innovation has the potential to be detrimental to the most vulnerable and reinforce inequality.

Not-Equal, the EPSRC Network+ on Social Justice through the Digital Economy, hopes to create the conditions for technologies to support social justice by building a network of interest and resource collaborations between researchers, industry, civic and civil society. Not-Equal explores the challenges posed by the data and platform economy, the digitization of services through a programme of activities, including commissioning research to develop innovative and practical responses to issues of social justice in technologies’ design and their application in everyday life.

This one-day event marks the launch of the Not Equal project, and the first call for collaborative research proposals, part of the Open Commissioning Programme.

This event is an opportunity Network+ partners to come together and share ideas on possible practical responses to issues flagged up by partners within each challenge area; as well as hear about the funding criteria, process and support available.

The event features provocative talks from invited speakers and experts from academia, civic and civil society, who will share their views on the social justice dimensions of emerging technology design and application and the challenges facing us today. The day will also include networking activities organised around thematic areas that form the call for proposal, to explore opportunities and generate ideas for possible collaborative cross-disciplinary responses.