Germany

I addressed priorities and gaps on three specific AI areas, including: 

• Metadata Persistence in Dynamic Content Environments: Addressing the gap of traditional identification systems when metadata bindings are disrupted as content is altered. ISCC-soft binding techniques create resilient content-metadata bonds without centralized registries, maintaining reference integrity along numerous axes of change using similarity-preserving identification algorithms.
• Cross-Domain Identification Interoperability: Resolving constraints of isolated content recognition systems. ISCC's composability enables standardized cross-format identification across text, image, audio and video content formats, enabling metadata discovery across previously disparate identification ecosystems without relying on proprietary integration methods.
• Decentralized Authentication Systems: Developing technological infrastructure for decentralized content provenance verification. Classical authentication mechanisms create single points of failure and privacy problems. This project evaluates soft binding methods that enable verifiable content provenance while maintaining compatibility with European digital sovereignty principles and facilitating transparent content verification without trusted centralized authorities.

With this fellowship, I significantly contribute to the ICT Standards landscape by addressing the lack of standardised guidelines for processing Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) systems. Approving the New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) for “Guidelines on processing PII using blockchain and DLT” establishes a crucial foundation for privacy-preserving, GDPR-compliant blockchain applications.
By leading the creation of CEN/CENELEC JTC19 WG3, I am ensuring the development of a harmonised European approach to blockchain privacy, reducing fragmentation and fostering interoperability. These efforts align blockchain implementations with European regulations, consumer protection laws, and data governance principles.
 

This fellowship supports my engagement in ISO/IEC JTC 1 ‘Information technology’ is not on a working level (such as a contributor to specific standards) but on a strategic level.

My fellowship contributes to analysing the ICT (IoT) Standards landscape in order to find gaps to be filled by future standardisation work and also to identify existing standards, which manufacturers and service providers of connected products or related services may apply in order for their products being compliant to the new Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (European Data Act).

Incorporation of at least two sensory channels for information consumption is required by the European Accessibility Act, but currently not widely realized in technical communication. With its structured semantic approach, the proposed standard seeks to help eliminate this shortcoming.

Annegrit's priority is the Convenorship of CEN CENELEC JTC21 WG 5,  the organisation and project support to work on the AI Act standardisation request for Cybersecurity. This includes a close collaboration with other groups within JTC 21, JTC 13, ISO IEC SC 42 and SC 27 to collect all information of existing and work under development. The main challenge is that JTC 21 and also our WG5 has a diverse structure of experts and knowledge, which makes the work, the effort and efficiency very difficult. In this case, the challenge in addition is the collaboration with other existing standardisation groups within JTC 21 as well as with JTC 13 for Cyber Resilience Act, with ETSI and their view, with ISO IEC SC 27 and SC 42.

Blockchain technology is poised to play a fundamental role in democratising internet technology, offering decentralised solutions that prioritise transparency, security, and user empowerment.

My fellowship tackles the gap related to the insufficient models for achieving analysis-ready geo data. 

With this work, I focus on enabling collaborative ecosystems and models among ICT stakeholders that allow energy saving and a positive environmental and societal footprint, bridging use case workflow and ecosystem design in a way that allows data-driven collaboration and performance increments.

In my role as a circular economy expert, I actively contribute to the advancement of Smart Circular Economy Standards for Europe. I ensure that standards align with EU policies like the European Green Deal, advocating for their integration into standardisation efforts. 

By integrating ZTA, the project allows for more secure, scalable, and flexible access control mechanisms, which are crucial for the protection of sensitive data and systems against evolving cyber threats.