Building Trust in Tech | How ARMADILLO devices Balanced Innovation and Human Integrity
Public Concerns, Real Stakes
Technology is present in our daily lives more than ever – but so do people’s doubts about it. In an era marked by swift technological change, public concerns around privacy, security, fairness and transparency are more pressing than ever.
From headlines about data breaches to concerns over algorithmic bias and surveillance, public trust in new technologies is under strain. Citizens increasingly ask: is this tool safe? Fair? Necessary?
These are not abstract questions, they reflect real anxieties that must be addressed head on by any project claiming to serve the public good, especially in sensitive domains such as Law Enforcement or Public Health.
In response, building trust has become not just a moral imperative but a technical and strategic one. For innovation to serve people it must cater for and defend human integrity, and therefore be trustworthy by design.
The ARMADILLO Approach
ARMADILLO, the Horizon Europe research and innovation project aims to develop portable user-friendly tool sets that rapidly detect GHB in beverages, saliva and urine to support Law Enforcement Authorities (LEAs) in preventing drug facilitated violence and assaults. While the project is inherently innovative it also places a strong emphasis on human rights, data protection and legal compliance from the outset.
From the beginning, ARMADILLO recognized that building such a solution is not only about performance or precision. It’s also about earning and maintaining trust from both users and broader society. The project adopts a ‘by design’ approach, aligned with EU legal and ethical standards (e.g. GDPR, AI Act, Cybersecurity Act), ensuring the trust is not an added feature but integrated throughout the entire lifecycle of the technology.
Trust is not an afterthought
ARMADILLO is committed to embedding Design Principles for trustworthy technology, covering both the functional as well as the non-functional aspects – what we call: ALL-functionals –, not only beforehand but during each and every stage of development and deployment/testing:
- Before Deployment, the consortium focuses on aligning the technology with key EU legal frameworks, integrating safeguards and ethical considerations from the outset including privacy by design, ethical risk assessment and stakeholder consultations.
- During Deployment, the emphasis shifts to practical implementation. The devices are tested for secure data handling, usability in the field and clarity in communication. Human-oversight is maintained at every stage, ensuring that the technology supports rather than replaces informed decision-making.
- After Deployment, there is ongoing post market monitoring of how the devices perform in real-world scenarios. This includes validating technical accuracy, auditing data handling practices and refining the tools based on impact assessments. Legal compliance and ethical reflection are seen as continuous processes – not a one-time task.
Trust is the Real Innovation
The potential of emerging technologies to help prevent harm is enormous. But so is the risk of losing public confidence when those technologies are rushed, opaque or misaligned with legal and ethical norms. ARMADILLO demonstrates that it is possible to develop cutting-edge solutions that prevent harm, while also protecting respect for fundamental rights.
Human integrity of people and public trust at large are things we can assume. It must be designed, earned, monitored, renewed and accounted for.
In EU-funded projects this is not just a good practice. It is a requirement for trust – by design. Delivering useful, preventive technologies while fully respecting individual rights is not a compromise, it is the future of living in Europe.
August 2025. Blog by Arthur’s Legal, Strategies & Systems, consortium partner of the ARMADILLO project (also available here: https://armadillo-project.eu/building-trust-tech-how-armadillo-devices-balance-innovation-and-human-integrity)