AI

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now the number one topic for discussion and application in business and academia. AI stands for both great hopes of revolutionary changes and improvements in relation to jobs and work and equally great fears of losing control of this disruptive technology.
Regulations for the use of AI are being developed, for there are many issues that need to be addressed. It is essential that the right balance both ethically and legally in order to guarantee an improvement in productivity, efficiency, quality but also respect for values and human rights.

GECCO will support our clients in this important area

Animal studies

Using and sacrificing animal in experiments is a question that goes far beyond following the three R’s, Replacement, Reduction and Refinement requirements. The use of genetically modified animals, the manner in which the test animals are kept and treated, the species of experimental animals, the severity of the phenotype, missing sustainability and many more connected aspects have made animal experiments a complex management affair, framed by laws and ethics standards.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Biobanking

Coming soon

Climate change

Climate change has begun to show effects on a global scale. Politicians are working hard to tackle the problem. Necessary changes in all areas of life – in energy production, mobility, and in industry are inevitable in order to stop or at least to alleviate the effects of climate change. Based on a constructive ethical approach, new innovations and technical solutions will contribute to the successful fight against the dangerous problems climate change is creating.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

CRISPR/GMO

Genome modifications provide an opportunity to create plants growing under adverse conditions and ensuring higher yielding harvests without sacrificing quality and with using less noxious pesticides and herbicides. In this time of global climate change and famine in many poor countries, these technologies may be a game changer in developing new and adaptive crops and fruits. Nonetheless, GMO-technologies are neither riskless nor undisputed. It is a matter of best ethical management to run a risk assessment on each particular GMO and to implement the best possible decisions to gain popular support, ensure safety for humans and the environment and provide food, feed and fibre where they are needed.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Digital ethics

Coming soon

Ethics & Compliance

Ethics, as we understand it at GECCO, is the management of moral issues in accordance with applicable law, current rules and regulations, and following internal compliance rules and code of conducts. Developing ethical solutions and safeguarding their successful realisation requires organizational settings from within the institution and/or from external advisors.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

EU grant applications

Preparing EU grant applications are complex, and especially writing the ethics self-evaluation can be challenging. Adjusting projects in compliance with laws, regulations and rules concerning e.g. working with people, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Biosafety and security issues or work using human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESC) requires specific knowledge that cannot be gained short-term during the preparation of projects.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Ethics & Compliance - quality assurance certificate

At this moment, GECCO is aiming at developing an international ethics certificate for enterprises and research facilities. In cooperation with an international organization for standardization, in future we would like to provide the possibility to award institutions with a quality assurance ethics and compliance certificate for R&D.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Healthcare ethics / Medical ethics

On the one hand the progressive development in medical technology and pharmacology, and great strides in medical biotechnology have changed healthcare radically over the past decades. On the other hand, the intensifying cost pressure and changes in the occupational profiles of the professions in healthcare have changed the atmosphere and character of work in healthcare. In this area of tension, many traditional certainties concerning the ethos and ethics of health care need reflection and realignment.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Hunting ethics

The ethics of hunting goes far beyond the law. It roots in the genuine ethos of hunting and partially centuries-old traditions that have constantly been developed. Hunting justice and -fairness as guiding principles have been transferred into rules, and ecological thinking considering sustainability to be the leading motive of hunting have enriched the genuine ethos of our own understanding. As a living process, the ethics of hunting requires permanent adaptations, also in terms of public relations. In fact, hunting has become under enormous pressure because the ethics of hunting is publicly largely unknown.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

IP

Protecting Intellectual Property (IP) is of utmost importance in commercialization of innovations. IP has also an important ethical aspect. Protecting IP does not serve only the rights of the inventor as the originator of commercialized innovations. It also defines the frames of fair use of owned ideas in business and making innovations available on the market. For progressive growth of IP and a successful go-to-market strategy an excellent IP management is as essential as the skills to recognize IP to be the essential element creating value and wealth.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Organoids

Organoids have become an important tool for medicine, research and drug development. Creating and using organoids are not generally subject to ethical concerns but can create ethical implications depending on their origin, possible modifications and intended purposes. Weighing of benefits and risks depends on the particular organoid type and utilization and can raise difficile ethical concerns and legal consequences.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Police and military ethics

The State enjoys the privilege of the monopoly of the use of force. This principle determines the frame of action to maintain, to keep and to enforce law and order within the state, and to defend its integrity against foreign enemies. Questions concerning how and up to what degree the executive shall fulfil in detail its duties is beyond the law, and subject to necessarily permanent discussions, also within the police and the military.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter

Sustainable & ethical fashion

Clothing in our time is more than beautiful design plus producing and selling it for good prices in the shops. It is a choice – a choice for garments that fulfil the request to be made in compliance with environmental protection demands, fairness to workers and sustainability. Clothing today needs to be a fair product. Changing the societal throwaway mentality is a tedious, complex process. Fashion industries are being forced through consumer action to modify their practices.

GECCO will support our clients in that important matter