11 Nov Accepted Paper IEEE International Conference on Agentic AI (ICA2025), Wuhan (China), 5-7 December

Posted on: November 2025
By: Prof. Dr. Igor Calzada, MBA, FeRSA
DOI: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5660050
Co-author: Itziar Eizaguirre (Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa)
Presented at: IEEE International Conference on Agentic AI (ICA 2025), Wuhan, China, 5–7 December 2025

Overview

The Basque Country is emerging as a laboratory for anticipatory AI governance, where innovation and legitimacy intersect. In our new IEEE paper, Anticipatory AI Governance in Practice, we explore how agentic and generative AI (GenAI) can be governed through participatory, place-based, and ethically grounded frameworks.

This work operationalizes anticipatory governance through four domains that define the Basque innovation ecosystem:

1. Regional foresight under polycrisis, combining long-term planning with adaptive governance.
2. Data sovereignty, advancing civic data cooperatives that challenge “data-opolies.”
3. Urban AI, exemplified by MUBIL and Landago initiatives linking smart mobility and digital inclusion.
4. Trustworthy GenAI in healthcare, through participatory Living Labs within Osakidetza.

Key Insights

• AI as a democratic challenge: Efficiency alone cannot guide AI in public administration. Governance must prioritize legitimacy, inclusion, and trust.
• Data as civic infrastructure: Data sovereignty must be built into protocols, platforms, and institutional design — not just claimed rhetorically.
• Urban AI as social innovation: Moving beyond “smart city” paradigms, Urban AI positions citizens as co-designers, not data points.
• Healthcare and GenAI trust: Trust emerges through participatory governance — transparency alone is insufficient.

Policy Implications

The study argues for anticipatory, polycentric governance of AI systems rooted in territorial innovation and public value creation. It proposes embedding accountability and solidarity within AI infrastructures through:

• Federated architectures and data cooperatives for digital sovereignty;
• Equity-by-design audits in Urban AI projects;
• Participatory oversight in GenAI health applications;
• Mission-oriented innovation aligned with European Commission goals on trustworthy and human-centric AI.

Citation

Calzada, I. & Eizaguirre, I. (2025). Anticipatory AI Governance in Practice: Data Sovereignty, Urban AI, and Trustworthy GenAI in the Basque Country.
IEEE International Conference on Agentic AI (ICA 2025), Wuhan, China.
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5660050

Tags

#AnticipatoryGovernance #AI #GenAI #UrbanAI #DataSovereignty #TrustworthyAI #DigitalInclusion #InnovationPolicy #BasqueCountry #IEEE