Using Big Data and Data Marketplaces to power Digital Transformation for European SMEs
i3-MARKET organised a workshop at the 2022 Data Week, on 3rd June, between 12.00 and 14.00 CEST.
The workshop demonstrated to SMEs how the i3-MARKET Backplane will enable them to access a vastly greater marketplace of data, both for sourcing new datasets and providing their own datasets on European marketplaces. This was done through an examination of the existing business models, opportunities and challenges that SMEs encounter with European data and data marketplaces, and using the i3-MARKET Backplane as a possible tool to improve that access. The system was briefly demonstrated to show how they could use it themselves.
The Workshop was divided in three short sections: the first section was a panel debate, where experts discussed how SMEs could benefit from new digital technologies and the challenges of adopting new technologies and tools, and whether they are properly designed for SMEs to take advantage of.
The second section looked more in depth at the i3-MARKET backplane, including how the design processes attempted to make the tool as SME friendly as possible, and demonstrated the backplane in action with the results of our industrial pilots.
The final section engaged the audience via a feedback session to discuss their experiences and user stories with regard to data sharing and using data marketplaces and to discuss new business models that can be derived through the expanding data economy.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
SME Forum Report: Understanding the Needs of Data Users and Data Owners
On 31 January, i3-MARKET hosted an SME Forum with members of the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, to hear their thoughts and feedback on how they currently use data and data marketplaces, with the purpose of using this information to help develop the i3-MARKET backplane to better serve the needs of European SMEs. 45 people took part in the Forum, which began with presentations from the i3-MARKET coordinator to introduce the current European landscape for data marketplaces and the benefits that greater data sharing would have for the European data economy. After providing this high-level overview, i3-MARKET technical partners then demonstrated the backplane technology that the project is developing, highlighting how this could be used by European companies to access multiple data marketplaces across a range of sectors.
Following these presentations, the participants were divided into thematic breakout sessions to discuss in more detail their experiences and motivations for using data marketplaces with i3-MARKET partners. From these discussions, i3-MARKET was able to understand several important factors that can help inform the development of the backplane to ensure that it suits the needs of its users.
One key takeaway from the Forum was that there was a stark divide between the participants in attendance as to how much time they would be willing to spend to connect to the Backplane, as some would be willing to invest more than two weeks to onboard, while others would only want to spend less than two days – and the split of participants was nearly 50/50 along this divide. This contrast could be interpreted in a number of ways, but this would suggest that perhaps some companies are still struggling to find value through data marketplaces and therefore don’t see them as a something worth investing time in. In this breakout room, the split between data providers and data consumers was also nearly 50/50, highlighting two of the key audiences that the project can engage with, and potentially form the basis of future Forums or workshop. It would be interesting to investigate further whether there is alignment between company role (data provider/data consumer) with regard to the Backplane and their willingness to invest time into onboarding, as this could reveal motivations for companies engaging with the Backplane. It did appear from initial discussions that data providers were willing to spend time onboarding, and data consumers not as interested.
The second takeaway from the meeting is that companies were interested to understand further how the Backplane could impact their business models. There were several comments regarding the incentives to use the Backplane and how i3-MARKET conceptualised transactions. Timoleon presented the i3-MARKET business models, highlighting where value could be derived for the users of the Backplane.
There was also discussion regarding the value proposition of the Backplane for SMEs, which can be considered at two levels: firstly, the practical, felt benefits of integrating with an ecosystem of data marketplaces: i.e being able to find already sorted/indexed data, more markets for data providers to sell to, greater ease-of-use for buyers, easier to source relevant data for testing new applications; and secondly, higher level, more abstract benefits, that potentially relate to the develop of the data economy, such as development of new innovations and the creation of new business models around data sharing. While it can be quite easy for the project to demonstrate how the Backplane will provide the practical benefits for companies, the conversation around the abstract level benefits – which may be required to convince non-data user companies to begin using data in their business practices, may need development, and in this, i3-MARKET is perhaps only one voice among many.
To complement this, it was agreed that the status of the Backplane as a non-profit technology based on an open-source approach was a positive indicator.
The Forum also helped the project partners identify some challenges that companies will face when adopting the backplane. Trust in the sources of data was raised as a particular concern, as users would like to be sure of the accuracy and legitimacy of the data that they will be receiving. Ensuring user trust in the system can be achieved through greater communication of the privacy, trust and security design features of the backplane. The sharing of data was also discussed, as consent would be needed from data owners before sharing their data across different platforms.
Further to this, there was interest in the anonymisation techniques that would be used and whether these could result in loss of information when transferring data. Another challenge that was raised was the supply of data for the platform. The access to large amount of data that the Backplane provides is a pull factor for SMEs to use the platform and in the World Café session there was interest in understanding the onboarding process for big data suppliers to ensure that there was a strong supply of data for companies to access.
The challenges of different data models and how companies would like to access data was raised by ATOS during this session, but it appears that there was no consensus on the type of data standardisation that would be preferred by companies. This could be explored further in a follow up meeting, as enabling ease-of-access is a good value proposition for the backplane. Another issue that was raised was how
Thanks to the hard work of partners in preparing an interesting and relevant workshop and the attendees for sharing their thoughts, experiences and opinions, i3-MARKET was able to host an informative and engaging SME Forum that will contribute to the design of the Backplane and hopefully its adoption by SMEs looking to benefit from greater access to data. The Forum provided some clear insights into the value of the platform, as well as highlighting areas in which the consortium needs to deal with challenges. Given the diversity of companies that took part in the forum, there are many avenues that can be explored in the future for further requirements gathering, including organising workshops by user type and offering more practical onboarding services for the companies that are already interested in using the backplane.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
Digital Transformation by Means of Big Data, Marketplaces and Data Economy
Digital Transformation has arrived and currently, it is happening too fast for societies to truly harness the powers of the transformation. In times when the new fuel is data, marketplaces for bringing value to data assets are growing ever popular and data economy models are still under development, many design aspects for the Digital Transformation still needs to be defined.
SMEs and Entrepreneurs are facing the biggest challenge and face major hurdles in comparison with large industries and corporations who traditionally dominate the large data markets. However, Digital Transformation is an opportunity for new ideas, disruptive models and only SME’s and Entrepreneurs are have the speed and agility to adopt and adapt new business models, in relation to how large industries. function. In a workshop at the European Big Data Value Forum, the i3-MARKET partners explored how data and data marketplaces can be opened up to European SME and Entrepreneurs through the use of new technologies.
The workshop began with Project Coordinator Dr Martin Serrano identifying the trends that are powering the digital transformation and the benefits of greater digitalisation, such as:
Data-driven, analytics based customer experience is a priority
Emergence of new online business models will drive growth
A strong focus on resilient supply chains leveraging analytics
The growth of a flexible work culture will drive benefits for both employees and employers
Remote talent management will be a key requirement
Providers will focus on building 5G infrastructure
Cybersecurity will remain a top priority
AI as a complementary technology for diverse use cases
The cloud and IoT will be common infrastructures
Blockchain will increasingly be considered as a mainstream technology
Data will be a driver of many of these processes, and for Europe, and European SMEs to be able to harness these trends, data marketplaces will need to become enablers of data sharing and exchanges, across multiple domains.
To do so, backend technologies are needed that facilitate the connection between marketplaces and allow easier access for SMEs, that may not have the capacity to find relevant data or ensure that it is in a useable format for their systems.
Ivan Martinez Rodriguez, of ATOS, and Marcio Mateus further developed this idea, explaining how tools to allow for federation of data marketplaces and exchanges would help marketplaces to co-exist. Ivan introduced the i3-MARKET backplane as a specific tool that allows data marketplaces to interact with eachother, following a data-centric approach.
Alessandro Amicone, of GFT further explained how the backplane would work, and how i3-MARKET has implemented and SNK-RI to facilitate the use of the service, so that SMEs can take advantage of multiple data services without having to learn and operate the different technologies and interfaces that they run on. For more information on this, and to view the building blocks of the i3-MARKET backplane, you can go to the Open Source i3-MARKET website .
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
i3-MARKET hosted a session at Digital Around the World 2021 this October, which focused on how big data and data marketplaces can power Europe’s digital transformation. Leading the discussions, Coordinator Dr Martin Serrano explained the current trends and ambitions from the European Parliament and Commission that demonstate the emphasis that they are placing on Europe’s digital transformation. He identified the top trends powering this transformation as:
Data driven, analytics based customer experience
Emergence of online business models will drive growth
Focus on resilient supply chains leveraging analytics
Growth of flexible work culture will drive benefits for both employers and employees
Remote talent management will be key requirement
Providers will focus on building 5G infrastructure
Cybersecurity will continue to be a major focus
AI as a complementary technology for diverse use cases
The cloud and IoT as common infrastructure
Blockchain will increasingly be considered a mainstream technology
Achille Zappa, Coordinator of i3-MARKET then explained how the development of the use of big data, and the growth of European data marketplaces could be a key enables in accelerating these trends, and allowing European companies to take advantage of European data. He highlighted how European initiatives, such as the i3-MARKET Backplane, will allow companies greater access to data and data marketplaces, for both buying and selling
The event also featured contributions from Gerrit Rosam, from the TRUSTS Project; Bijan Yadollahi, of the DOME 4.0 project and Ernesto Troiano. More than 50 people were watching online, while over 600 people watched more than 100 speakers from 53 countries take part in the whole event.
You can watch the recoding of the event on the event website, using this link.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
"Open Data, Open Markets and Open Source Software Tools for European Marketplaces" Workshop
i3-MARKET hosted a Workshop at the BDVA Data Week, that identified and introduced technologies and solutions for a trusted (secure, self-governing, consensus-based and auditable), interoperable (semantic-driven) and decentralised (scalability) marketplace infrastructure.
The Workshop focused on open-source software technologies that enable federation via interoperability of the existing and future emerging data spaces and marketplaces.
You can see the speakers and presentations below.
Digital services are growing year on year, with data market economies scaling up, which provides strong opportunities for European companies.
i3-MARKET Coordinator to present "Semantic data models for enabling/enhancing interoperability in Data Marketplaces" in BDVA/DAIRO Meeting
Project Coordinator Achille Zappa took part in the BDVA/DAIRO Project Meeting on April 21, presenting the i3-MARKET research on semantic data models for enabling/enhancing interoperability in Data Marketplaces, specifically on the DCAT Data Model Extension and OCASUS Ontology approach that the project is employing.
The meeting brought together different projects that are associated with the BDVA and was an opportunity to present recent information from the use cases that i3-MARKET has analysed, and discuss with other projects on how interoperability can be enhanced.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
Stratos Baloutsos presents the Business Challenges of the European Data Market
Stratos Baloutsos took part in the EUH4D Data Forum on 30 March, representing i3-MARKET. He was a speaker on the panel on Challenges that Businesses face in exploiting the European Data Market.
His presentation (available below) explored the misconceptions around how businesses can use and monetize data, the current business models driven by data and how these can generate revenue, and the difference challenges that these models face.
He then explained how Data-marketplaces can help these models achieve sustainability, by solving the “chicken and egg” problem and benefiting data owners, users and providers. He concluded by explaining that as a tool for integrating multiple data marketplaces , i3-MARKET can make it easier for businesses to exploit European data and power the growth of the European Data Market.
i3-MARKET Coordinator Participates in BDVA/DAIRO Activity Group Meeting
Project Coordinator Martin Serrano took part in the BDVA/DAIRO meeting on “Embryonic Data Spaces in Smart Manufacturing Industry ecosystem” on March 18, presenting the project research and contributions to the development of European data spaces.
The meeting was an opportunity to present information from the use cases that i3-MARKET has analysed, and also featured a panel discussion on the different design principles informing the development of European data spaces.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
I3-Market to join EUH4D Data Forum to discuss the Business Challenge of European Data Strategies and Policies
On 30 March, Stratos Baloutsos, from I3-Market partner ACEI (the Athens Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, part of the Athens University of Economics and Business) will be joining the Data Forum, organised by the fellow EU project EUHubs4Data, to discuss the business challenges that start-ups and SMEs face in accessing and exploiting the European data market. The panel will be moderated by Justina Bieliauskaite, Projects Director at the European DIGITAL SME Alliance and will also feature Marin Iuga, CEO of Intertechnica.
The panel discussion will cover topics such as the lack of support for SMEs and start-ups beginning cross-border activities, the lack of knowledge and visibility for opportunities to do so and data monetisation and business models.
This is the first time that the Data Forum is being held, and it is expected to become an annual event to raise awareness, share results and recommendations and discuss the strategies and policies from the European Commission regarding data and data use. The Forum will focus on four challenges:
Legal and Ethical challenges, such as legal constraints regarding liability and data protection
Technical challenges, including the availability of trusted data sharing mechanisms
Policy challenges, including the establishment of innovation friendly policies and the identification of the right policy incentives
Business challenges, as mentioned above.
The webinar will feature speakers from the European Commission, from the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) and the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), who will discuss the policy issues arising from their respective areas, and participation from the BDVA/DAIRO.
Pitting technology against the pandemic, 2020 presented us with challenges – where to place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation, the risk of eroding public trust as we race to implement digital solutions, and opportunities – improved interoperability and data exchange may benefit the post-COVID world.
Annus Horribilis
Arguably, 2020 was a year like no other in recent history. Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) had already identified that the likelihood of pandemics has increased over the past century for a variety of reasons, including urbanisation, globalisation, climate change and increased mobility,[1] hardly anyone was expecting that an infection that started last December in China would evolve into a global health crisis the way COVID-19 did. As of December 2020, almost 74,000,000 cases have been reported, while 1,644,589 people have died worldwide.[2] The pandemic has created unparalleled demand for data and insights to assess and mitigate the risks for public health, and prevent not only the toll on human lives, but also on the global economy. Simultaneously, whereas technology significantly contributed to mapping and preventing the spread of the virus, there are still several questions and concerns related to contact tracing systems and other privacy and data protection trade-offs that were deemed necessary given the circumstances.[3] The availability of reliable data, interoperability, security, and trust became pressing issues, while the merits, as well as the limits of privacy and data protection law, were significantly challenged.
Privacy vs. a global public health crisis
“Privacy vs. public health” and swift decision-making to save lives, were two reasons invoked by several mostly non-EU countries, to justify privacy-intrusive methods and the invasiveness of several COVID-related applications. On the other hand, in the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) served as a protective veil for European citizens’ privacy, with sometimes questionable degrees of success, depending also on the national legal specificities and the level of Member State public sector compliance. Privacy and data ethics experts stress that anonymisation and usage of aggregated data as such, do not necessarily offer an adequate level of privacy and should not lead to the assumption that privacy and data protection are safely protected.[4]“Anonymised data” may create the impression that the individual is no longer identifiable. However, a 2019 study challenges this assumption. The researchers presented a model that may re-identify 99.8% of the data subjects in a dataset, pointing out that successful re-identification may reach considerably high levels in case of “heavily incomplete” anonymised data sets.[5] This is a particularly concerning, or even disturbing, realization, especially when it comes to geo-location and location privacy-related data, as well as health data. Furthermore, accepting this trade-off may serve as a “precedent for data-driven policing”[6],risking an ethical setback regarding where we place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation. It also familiarises us with the idea that fundamental rights may be interfered with, in the face of a crisis, without verifying whether such interference is proportionate, and in accordance with international human rights law.
Security and Trust vs. time sensitivity
Obviously, during a global epidemic, data and time are two of the most valuable resources for scientists and policymakers alike. Whereas the current situation is much worse compared to the 1918 flu pandemic, a significant difference is that today, science and technology allow us to monitor the spread of the disease and the mutations of the virus. We are also able to share data on the virus’ dissemination patterns, and insights for epidemiological models almost instantaneously, while effectively communicating protective measures worldwide. Leaving aside the unprecedented spread of fake news, information and communication technologies serve as important tools in the fight against COVID-19. Technology has been a key factor, particularly when it comes to understanding how seemingly subtle differences in our daily routines may have profound consequences for the spread of the virus, and tracing contacts to inform potentially infected individuals and contain further infection. As such, various tracing applications quickly became a rather central part of spread-monitoring and a source of information for data-driven decision-making.
However, the rush to develop and implement such solutions led to several information security flaws that in turn challenged the trust of people in them.[7] Considering that data-driven decision-making and strategising require significant and reliable data sources, voluntary collaboration with the public is essential. In other words, people’s willingness to share their data is crucial. Consequently, trust is a vital component for the success of such solutions, as well as for bringing together quality data sources. As such, to avoid jeopardising the public’s trust in future projects as well, which would deprive a data-driven society from indispensable insights, it is imperative to further invest in security, consider the merits of decentralization in systems development, prioritize transparency, privacy, data protection and accountability. Even though time is indeed valuable, the loss of trust may be irreversible in the long term, while human rights and ethical values are not a question of convenience.
Big Data, interoperability and the global exchange of data
The collection and processing of various types of data has been a key part of governments, intergovernmental and private actors’ response to the coronavirus crisis, in an effort to understand, map, monitor, contain and remedy the pandemic. Ironic as it may seem – given that our era is presumably the time of Big Data and Big Data Analytics – COVID-19 illustrated that there is still ample space for further elaborating and enhancing the collection and exchange of data on a global scale. Whilst health-related data may be the first example coming to mind, working from home combined with the drastic digitalisation of the global economy as well as the “turning-digital” shift of the social life for billions of people have created vast amounts of additional data and data sources. The question now is how this data will be collected, exchanged, and used for the benefit of mankind in the dawn of an arguably new period for humanity. Additionally, although the value of Big Data Analytics is already widely acknowledged, there are still several technical limitations that became particularly evident during the pandemic.
To overcome such obstacles, Apple and Google came together in a monumental and highly symbolic cooperation to co-create application programming interfaces that allow interoperability between iOS and Android devices using COVID-19 related applications from public health authorities and offer a larger Bluetooth-based exposure notification platform.[8] This initiative is particularly noteworthy, not only because it highlights the power and potential of the collective intellect and coordinated efforts of technology giants, but also because it reminds us of the significance of interoperability and cross-platform compatibility, in an increasingly interconnected world. Especially as we are moving from Big Data to Smart Data, allowing data to flow and to be shared across different platforms and systems, it may significantly enhance data-driven decision making in several sectors, and contribute to the post-COVID world. From that angle, this doubtlessly difficult year brought, apart from a wide range of challenges, some opportunities worth exploring.
Data-driven technologies can be a double-edged sword and it is up to us how we wield it. While swift decision-making and quick implementation of digital solutions can help save lives, we risk an ethical setback regarding where we place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation, as well as the erosion of public trust. On the other hand, improved interoperability and data exchange may benefit the world in the long term.
[1] WHO (World Health Organization). 2005. International Health Regulations. Geneva: WHO. – Jones K E, Patel N G, Levy M A, Storeygard A, Balk D., and others. 2008. “Global Trends in Emerging Infectious Diseases.” Nature 451 (7181): 990–93.
[2] The Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center, COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), available at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
[3] Gabriela Arriagada Bruneau, Mark Gilthorpe, Vincent C. Müller. The ethical imperatives of the COVID-19 pandemic: A review from data ethics, Veritas,44, (2020).
[4] Seng Ah Lee, M. Data Ethics in combating COVID-19 after lockdown. Cambridge University, Trust & Technology Initiative. Research perspectives. (2020)
[5] Rocher, L., Hendrickx, J. M., & de Montjoye, Y.-A. Estimating the success of re-identifications in incomplete datasets using generative models. NatureCommunications, 10(1), (2019).
[6] Gabriela Arriagada Bruneau, Mark Gilthorpe, Vincent C. Müller. The ethical imperatives of the COVID-19 pandemic: A review from data ethics, Veritas,44, (2020).
