How we work with industry

As an independent research institute, Ada works with tech firms and other private-sector companies in a range of ways. Our team of legal, public policy, social science, philosophy, economic, culture, technology and participation experts convene workshops with industry representatives, conduct research into industry trends, and produce recommendations on the sociotechnical impacts of corporate practices. See our programmes and projects.

We believe it is essential that industry, academia and civil society work together to understand the impacts of technologies, to ensure the benefits are equitably distributed and their harms mitigated. And that technology developers bear a responsibility to ensure their products and services are designed ethically and distributed and experienced equitably.

It is only by working closely with industry that we can understand, support and mitigate the benefits and harms technologies produce. Our principles for engaging with industry are:

• Openness and transparency: We conduct open research and transparent reporting. If necessary, our convenings and research may grant anonymity to participating organisations and individuals, but our results will always be made public.
• Independence and balance: Ada is an independent research institute that works to understand the benefits and harms of AI and data. We convene and conduct research to create evidence and broaden understanding.
• Proximity to those affected: We work to close the gap between designers and developers of technologies and members of the public who are affected by them, particularly communities who are traditionally underrepresented and marginalised. We use public engagement to acknowledge and account for the asymmetries of power between those building technologies and those affected by them.

We do not conduct private consultancy, bespoke consultancy advice on products or technologies, or work under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) – we publish our results as research to ensure all members of industry benefit from our findings.

In order to preserve our independence, we do not accept funding from the private sector – Ada is an independent research institute, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

How you can work with us

We welcome approaches from industry organisations, including:

• Commissioning groundbreaking research into the sociotechnical impacts of a particular policy, practice, or product.
• Convening a roundtable, workshop, or other event with members of government, academia, civil society, and others in industry around a pressing issue or topic. These could be either open to the public, semi-public, or closed-door / Chatham House rules.
• Conducting informal or formal interviews and focus groups to identify future research trends in a particular sector or deep dive into an emerging ethical or legal area.
• Participating in a citizens’ council or another public engagement project in which you would share knowledge about a product with members of the public for their input.

Interested in working with Ada on a project or topic? Contact us at hello@adalovelaceinstitute.org.