The European members of the Global Network of Centers for Internet and Society (NoC) have launched the European Hub in October 2017 to support scientific discussion and cooperation between internet researchers in Europe. The hub is being created as a regional chapter of the NoC that congregates members of the Network, as foreseen in the NoC Roadmap 2017/18.

The aim is to coordinate internet research centers in the whole of Europe in order to strengthen European internet research on an international level. European cooperation on internet and society research is one of the hub’s key concerns, as is the opportunity to leverage synergies between research projects.

At the heart of the hub’s work is independent and interdisciplinary research about the opportunities and challenges of digital technology, innovation and European society. The first steps will be to create a common European research agenda, regional workshops and conferences as well as developing guidelines and ethical standards for internet research. “Artificial Intelligence” is the first common research focus.

For the first two years, the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) will take the lead in the coordination of the hub. Alongside the newly founded European hub, the Digital Asia Hub has operated in Hong Kong since 2015.