IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2022 - 101

Commentary
PeaceTech
Paul Heidebrecht
Conrad Grebel University College
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G6, Canada
 In recent years, the world's enthusiasm for
new technology has been accompanied by growing
concern over the harmful social, environmental, and
economic impacts of these same technologies. In
response to what is often referred to as a " techlash "
[1], a new focus on " tech for good " can be found
in the private sector as well as in higher education
and the realm of governments. For example, Communitech,
an organization dedicated to supporting
tech startups in the region of Waterloo, ON, Canada,
rebranded its annual tech summit around the theme
of tech for good in 2018 [2]. This included the development
and launch of the Canadian Tech for Good
Declaration, an effort to build the commitment of
companies to a set of six principles, including things
like " leave no one behind " and " think inclusively at
every stage " [3].
This was just one of literally dozens of declarations
and manifestos that have appeared in recent years,
and, beyond words and conferences, there has also
been a proliferation of tech for good initiatives and
organizations, many of which aim to contextualize
what is meant by the expression. Questions that have
been wrestled with include: How should we define
what is good? Who gets to define it? And, perhaps
most importantly, how do we achieve it?
One of the busiest clusters of initiatives falls under
the " AI for Good " or " Data for Good " rubric, as evident,
for example, in the IEEE Global Initiative on
Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems [4].
Another cluster of organizations can be grouped
under what is sometimes referred to as Civic Tech
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2022.3197117
Date of current version: 16 September 2022.
September 2022
[5] or Public Interest Technology [6]. And there is a
longstanding and significant effort to apply technology
to sustainability challenges; numerous projects
and organizations that make up the Green Tech or
Clean Tech movement can also be thought of as
examples of tech for good. It is within this larger context
of efforts to make " tech for good " more specific
and concrete that PeaceTech should be situated.
PeaceTech refers to a broad range of activities
found at the intersection of peace and technology,
and the term was first introduced with the creation
of the PeaceTech Lab, Washington, DC, USA,
in 2008. Affiliated with the U.S. Institute of Peace,
the lab became an independent nonprofit in 2014.
Its operating definition of PeaceTech is " the movement
to use technology to end violent conflict and
extremism " [7]. As evident in the kinds of projects
the PeaceTech Lab has sparked, this includes tools
to disrupt violence, as well as tools to respond to the
root causes of conflict by addressing systemic injustices
and restoring relationships so that a sustainable
and positive peace becomes possible.
Beyond the PeaceTech Lab, another key node
of activity can be found at the Peace Innovation
Institute, based in The Hague and affiliated with the
Peace Innovation Lab, Stanford University [8]. In the
Canadian context, Conrad Grebel University College
at the University of Waterloo has supported PeaceTech
efforts through the Kindred Credit Union Centre
for Peace Advancement since 2014. In addition to
seeking to leverage technological expertise to augment
the advancement of peace, the Centre seeks to
leverage insights from the field of peacebuilding to
critically engage developments in technology.
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