Govern responsibly
Frameworks, evidence and practical tools for transparent, fair and accountable AI and data use.
A research unit within FBK's Digital Society Center · Trento
Technology is stronger when it is built as a commons.
We connect people, knowledge and technology to make digital innovation more open, accountable and useful to society.
Open dataResponsible AIDigital governanceCivic technology
01 / What we do
From public questions
to shared infrastructure.
Digital Commons Lab is a research unit of FBK’s Digital Society Center. Our work moves between policy, communities and technology: studying how digital systems affect society, then building practical ways to govern them better.
Open knowledge
Open data, maps and civic technologies that people and institutions can inspect, reuse and improve.
Work with communities
Participatory research that combines local knowledge, public institutions and technical expertise.
Make complexity visible
Data visualisation and digital twins that turn evidence into a shared basis for decisions.
Work with us
Building a proposal around these themes?
We team up with public institutions, research organisations, communities and companies to develop funding proposals on digital commons, open data, responsible AI, civic technology and data governance.
Talk to us about a call ↘02 / Current projects
Research that
leaves the lab.
We work to create digital commons that help society improve.
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Horizon Europe · Knowledge valorisation
ARCADIA ↗
An open, AI-supported toolbox helping researchers and knowledge-transfer professionals move research results towards real-world use.
knowledge transfer
Climate · Digital twins
TALEA
Environmental data and simulation for urban green spaces, climate resilience and citizen engagement in Bologna.
Health data · Data governance
Trentino Health Factory ↗
We work on data governance for an infrastructure that brings together clinical, health and environmental data for research and personalised medicine.
Education · AI governance
AI Literacy Lab
Practical learning programmes that help citizens and public servants understand how AI works, where it fails and how to use it responsibly.
In collaboration with the Autonomous Province of Trento ↗WebGIS · Social infrastructure
Povo Civic Hub ↗
An interactive territorial atlas for exploring co-presence, local vitality and social infrastructure across Povo, Trento.
Project archive
Earlier work,
still accessible.
Methods, data and software from previous projects remain available to visit and reuse.
AIxPA
Ethical and transparent AI frameworks for public administration.
Street Light Scanner
Street-level imagery and AI for open urban-infrastructure data.
Logistica di Comunità
Local knowledge and technology for sustainable rural logistics.
SmartBin
Open data and digital tools for smarter waste collection.
COVID-19 Trentino
Open visualisations of the pandemic in Trentino.
Trento Time Travel Maps
A historical exploration of Trentino emigration.
Sidewalk Widths Italy
Mapping the width and accessibility of Italian pavements.
Parklog Trento
Car and bicycle parking availability in Trento.
Trento Trees Eco-benefit
Making the value of individual urban trees visible.
03 / Products, maps & data
See the question.
Use the evidence.
Tools, maps and visual work that make research easier to discuss, challenge and use.
Climate intelligence
Land surface temperature in Bologna
Identifying heat patterns to support urban climate adaptation.
Active mobility
Stress in bici
Reading the road network through cyclists’ perceived stress.
Open the map ↗
Digital humanities
Trento Time Travel Maps
Exploring Trentino emigration through historical data and maps.
Responsible AI · Public administration
AI Ethics Canvas
A structured canvas for planning, designing and deploying ethical AI solutions in public administrations.
Explore the canvas ↗04 / Publications
Ideas, methods
and evidence.
A selection of recent publications involving members of the group, spanning digital commons, responsible AI, urban data and open mapping. Newest first.
Jul 2026 · Data & Policy
AI Ethics Canvas: A graphical tool to design and deploy ethical artificial intelligence for public administrations
Read publication ↗ May 2026 · Open dataData as Commons: The Power and Impact of Open Data
View record ↗ Mar 2026 · Digital commonsA global data commons is needed to protect and govern Earth's soil
View record ↗ Jan 2026 · Active mobilityLTS-BikePlan: A Data-Driven Tool for Enhancing Cycling Infrastructure and Safety
View record ↗ Nov 2025 · Urban climateInvestigating Social Vulnerability to Extreme Heat: Heat Islands and Climate Shelters in Urban Contexts
Read publication ↗ Oct 2025 · BioLaw JournalBalancing Innovation and Regulation: A Critical Look at the AI Act's Research Exemptions
Read publication ↗ Aug 2025 · arXivGenerative AI and the Future of the Digital Commons: Five Open Questions and Knowledge Gaps
Read publication ↗ Aug 2025 · A Companion to Digital EthicsData for Good
Read publication ↗ Jun 2025 · Egyptian J. Remote Sensing & Space SciencesFlood mapping and impact analysis by fusion of remote sensing and open geospatial data: Sindh case study
Read publication ↗ Oct 2024 · Policy & InternetThe false promise of individual digital sovereignty in Europe: Comparing artificial intelligence and data regulations in China and the European Union
Read publication ↗ May 2024 · LREC-COLINGAnnotation and Classification of Relevant Clauses in Terms-and-Conditions Contracts
Read publication ↗ Jan 2024 · Public Money & ManagementDataspaces, public administration and collective rationality: opportunities and limits for data-driven policy-making
Read publication ↗ Sep 2023 · Remote SensingRemote Sensing and Deep Learning to Understand Noisy OpenStreetMap
Read publication ↗ Jul 2023 · IGARSS 2023Joint Learning Framework for Roads Semantic Segmentation from VHR and VGI Data
Read publication ↗ Jun 2023 · Urban mobilityAre Italian cities already 15-minute? Presenting the Next Proximity Index
Read publication ↗ Apr 2023 · ISPRS Open J. Photogrammetry & RSTowards global scale segmentation with OpenStreetMap and remote sensing
Read publication ↗ Sep 2021 · IGI GlobalMapping the Mappers: Exploring the Communities of VGI Users Through OpenStreetMap Data
Read publication ↗ Jul 2018 · IEEE IV 2018Beyond Transparency: Making the Italian Public Administration more Accessible through Data Storytelling
Read publication ↗05 / Team
Different disciplines.
One public purpose.
Researchers, technologists and social scientists working across data, law, design and participation.
Maurizio Napolitano
Head of Unit
Leads Digital Commons Lab and has spent over two decades working on OpenStreetMap, open data and open source within FBK's Digital Society Center. Also serves on the Board of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
EA
Eleonora Andreotti
Postdoctoral researcher
Data scientist researching AI and data governance, with a background in applied mathematics and physics and previous experience leading data-governance projects at Cineca.
Pietro Bizzaro
Postdoctoral researcher, AI & Data Governance
Studies how AI and data regulation play out in practice — from the EU AI Act's research exemptions to terms-and-conditions contracts — and helped build the AI Ethics Canvas used by public administrations to design responsible AI.
AB
Alice Barsanti
PhD researcher
PhD researcher contributing to the lab's work on responsible AI and civic technology.
LB
Leonardo Bridi
AI engineer
AI engineer building and maintaining the models, pipelines and tools behind the lab's AI-powered projects.
Tereza Sásková
Intern & thesis student
Researching how Italian cities comply with the 3-30-300 urban greenery rule — 3 visible trees, 30% canopy cover, a park within 300m — measuring compliance address by address using orthophotos, OpenStreetMap and computer-vision tree detection.
AA
Antonio Amabile
Intern & thesis student
Builds UrbanScope3D, a web-based 3D visualisation tool that combines city models with environmental data layers to explore urban dynamics.
BK
Beril Lara Kanatli
ARCADIA project reviewer
Supports the review process for ARCADIA, the lab's Horizon Europe toolbox helping researchers and knowledge-transfer professionals move research results towards real-world use.
06 / Alumni
Part of the story.
People who worked and studied with us, contributing to the lab’s projects, methods and community.
Join us
Internship opportunities
We welcome students who are eager to get involved and build something that interests both them and us. An internship can begin with one of our proposals or with your own idea and develop into a thesis, a scientific publication, a project or a new digital commons.
If this way of working appeals to you, contact us and tell us what you would like to do.
Students, interns and thesis students
EM
Elisa Maccabiani
Social vulnerability to extreme heat, heat islands and climate shelters
LM
Luca Maccacaro
Data-driven tools for planning urban tree-planting strategies
Elena Della Valentina
AI regulation, public administration and citizens' rights
SR
Silvia Rossi
Participatory cycling improvement and project coordination
ST
Sara Tegoni
GIS-based environmental sustainability assessment of alpine huts
LL
Luisa Lopresti
E-scooter mobility data and urban transport analysis in Trento
BM
Beatrice Marsilli
Historical mobility, migration data and digital mapping
LV
Leonardo Venturoso
Open mapping and cycling infrastructure analysis
Former workers and collaborators
Francesca De Chiara
Open data policy, civic participation and data communities
Diletta Huyskes
Data governance and responsible digital innovation
Stefano Cudini
Open-source Web GIS, geospatial data and interactive visualisation
Francesco Weikmann
Cycling network analysis and infrastructure-improvement priorities
Cristian Consonni
Collaborative knowledge, online communities and computational social science
MU
Munazza Usmani
Remote sensing, open geospatial data and machine learning for urban and environmental mapping
RN
Riccardo Nanni
Data governance, dataspaces and Internet governance research
07 / Contact
Let’s make digital innovation a shared resource.
Digital Commons Lab
Digital Society Center
Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Via Sommarive 18
38123 Trento, Italy