Networked intelligence, unbound by physical limits and enhanced by key technological advancements, urges humanity to reconsider foundational concepts that have defined civilizations for centuries. For example, the notions of self, autonomy, and responsibility (that provide foundations for the design of many present day social institutions), are being questioned with the emergence of “thinking” machines that collectively function on the network. With such recognition, CCRC seeks to understand and develop the next generation of social principles to govern both the technology and society.

With the advances in IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence), cyber civilization is becoming ever more vulnerable to cyber threats. Without addressing this issue, we will not be able to fully benefit from the promised capabilities of information technologies. By better understanding how pervasive technology has become to individual, national, and international security, we may be able to understand how to defend it from malicious actors and mitigate overspills from the virtual to the physical and vice versa.

Beyond direct attacks on information technology systems, cyber civilization can also face a variety of civilization risks. Such risks may include unethical use of powerful technologies for weapons, social instability by loss of jobs, and loss of human control over markets, to name just a few. The consequences of natural born risks, including earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis etc. would have different character and magnitude in the cyber civilization age from that of previous ones. CCRC thus seeks to explore civilization risks that are of a large magnitude and can risk both the virtual and physical manifestation of society. Based on the deeper understanding of the nature of the risks, we would also like to explore how technological and societal systems can be resilient, i.e. have the capability to recover from damages quickly, in a cyber civilization.

The rise of data economy and advancement in big data technology have driven innovation and growth to the society. Yet, at the same time, they bring along a new set of challenges and potential risks to the human race. Global policymakers see data management strategy as the top priority in their development plans and consider it to be the remedies of many social problems, at both domestic and international level. A trustable mechanism on data management is essential to our future. CCRC analyze data architecture and technologies and illustrates the potentials and challenges that support effective future welfare planning, and develop an architecture for trust between stakeholders that fill up gaps between the exiting laws, conventions, and protocols on data usage.