Smart Government & Public Law

Emerging technologies like AI are affecting government actions, challenge administrative procedures and concepts and influence judicial decision-making. 

Buying AI: We research how governments and administrations get access to new technologies. A central piece is how public authorities can procure AI systems that guarantee high quality and digital sovereignty. Important deliberations include the installation of public clouds, the protection of government data and the authorities’ use of open-source software. 

Sandboxes: Another aspect we investigate is novel regulatory settings, like AI sandboxes, that foster innovation for the public or private sector. We collaborate with authorities like the AI Innovation Sandbox in Zurich and provide legal advice to implement real-life public projects, like AI-driven food intake assessments, automated permitting decisions and agentic balancing of interests in urban planning. 

AI in Administration: The practically most important aspect and center piece of our research is how new technologies change government practices and existing administrative procedures. Typical areas include automated permitting in construction and urban planning, streamlining public procurement procedures with AI, and AI-assisted asylum, social insurance and tax decisions.  

Key questions that we are addressing are: Do we need a legal basis for automating administrative decision-making? To what degree is the citizens’ trust protected in AI-assisted government advice? What are the requirements for giving reason for AI-assisted administrative decision-making? How is AI impacting judicial decision-making?

Swiss Public Cloud Strategy; digital sovereignty; amendments of cantonal data protection laws/administrative procedure acts for automated decision-making; application of the AI Act and the forthcoming Swiss AI Regulation for public administrations; implementation of experimentation clauses in public regulations like health regulation, road traffic law, or urban planning law. 

• Experiment: Legal Expertise in AI-Permitting (Désirée Klingler) 

• Legal Argument Mining in Public Law Decisions (Désirée Klingler)

• Right to Algorithmic Disclosure (Monika Simmler) 

• Garcia & Klingler, Digital Transformation in Public Procurement, The Applied Law & Economics of Public Procurement, Routledge (forthcoming fall 2026). 

• Klingler & Koch, Source Code Transparency through Public Procurement: The New Swiss Open Source Software Obligation, European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review 2/2025: 237-240 (2025). 

• Klingler, Amazon.Gov: Disintermediation in Public Procurement Through Digital Platforms – Benefits and Risks, IUS PUBLICUM, Vol. 2024(1): 1-41 (2024). 

• Patrucco, Dimand & Klingler, Policies to Stimulate Industrial Innovation by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Lessons Learned from Public Procurement of Innovation during Emergencies, European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review 1/2023: 65-76 (2023). 

• Klingler, RegTech and the Sandbox: Play, Innovate, and Protect, in Douglas Arner et al. (eds.), THE REGTECH BOOK (West Sussex, UK: Wiley): 106-112 (2019).  

• Altwicker, Tilmann, Braun Binder Nadja, Dauag Apollo Dimitri, Vanessa Rüegger, Julia Ruf, Martin Seelmann, and Monika Simmler. “KI-Systeme in der Justiz: Typologisierung.” sui generis, 2026, 89–100. 

• Simmler, Monika, Simone Brunner, Giulia Canova, and Kuno Schedler. “Smart Criminal Justice: Exploring the Use of Algorithms in the Swiss Criminal Justice System.” Artificial Intelligence and Law 31, no. 2 (March 14, 2022): 213–37.