The EMERALD project is pleased to announce its official membership in HELEN, the Horizon Europe Legal and Ethics Network. HELEN’s primary mission is to foster collaboration, promote the creation and sharing of knowledge, and develop effective solutions and methodologies to ensure the legal compliance and ethical integrity of emerging technologies. By embedding the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), HELEN aims to align research and innovation outcomes with ethical values while safeguarding fundamental rights.

Why HELEN matters for EMERALD
Since the EMERALD project addresses the challenge of Continuous Compliance for Cloud Services, developing frameworks and tools for evidence management that enable compliance in dynamic and evolving technological contexts, membership in HELEN provides an invaluable opportunity to:

• Exchange knowledge with leading experts on the legal and ethical dimensions of cloud certification and evidence management
• Align methodologies with other Horizon Europe initiatives to ensure that compliance processes integrate legal rigor and ethical responsibility
• Contribute to cross-sector debates on the governance of digital infrastructures, data protection, and trust in cloud-based services
• Enhance dissemination and impact through joint publications, White Papers, and participation in conferences and workshops organized by HELEN

A joint European effort
HELEN brings together a diverse ecosystem of projects and stakeholders, including policymakers, industry representatives, academia, and civil society. Through its activities — from international conferences to collaborative scientific outputs — HELEN strengthens Europe’s capacity to ensure that technological innovation is secure, responsible, and socially beneficial.
For EMERALD, this collaboration is an important step in ensuring that its technical achievements are accompanied by a strong legal and ethical foundation, thereby supporting the broader goal of trustworthy and accountable cloud services.
We look forward to contributing actively to HELEN’s initiatives and to fostering robust synergies with complementary projects in the Horizon Europe framework.