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.
On behalf of the whole i3-MARKET consortium, we wish you a happy new year 2021!
2021 marks the second year of the project. More than ever, the demand for a single European Data Market Economy is soaring. i3-MARKET will continue to work towards this goal by innovating marketplace platforms and demonstrating with industrial implementations that the data economy growth is possible! In this edition, you will learn about i3-MARKET’s latest news and events, the project’s technical approach and consortium partners, as well as a funding opportunity from a partner project.
Three pillars for building a Smart Data Ecosystem
On 23 October 2020, i3-MARKET held a webinar, co-organised with the BDVe project, explaining i3-MARKET’s approach to tackle 3 big challenges of the Smart Data ecosystem: Trust, Security and Privacy:
Trust: Everything under control With the blockchain technology, i3-MARKET provides an open, decentralized, consensus-based system with a shared and tamper-proof ledger. With verifiable credentials, the project aims to provide trusted attestations that could be issued by a trusted party, and self-presented and self-verified by any stakeholder.
Security: Unlock the data with a key Via a protected hardware wallet, i3-MARKET provides cryptographic keys to secure transactions and data.
Privacy: Meet and overcome GDPR requirements Through self-sovereign identity, zero-knowledge proof and explicit user consent, i3-MARKET users own their personal and sensitive data and maintain the control on data sharing / exchange.
Privacy, Data Protection, Security and Trust in a year of the global pandemic
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.
In this blog post, Vasiliki Koniakou, researcher in one of i3-Market’s partner organisations – Athens University of Economics and Business –demonstrates how data-driven technologies helped us cope with the pandemic crisis, while confronting us more than ever with challenges such as the availability of reliable data, interoperability, security, and trust as well as the limits of privacy and data protection law.
On 21 October 2020, i3-MARKET contributed to the DigitalAroundTheWorld conference with an experts panel on “Bringing the Data Platforms Perspective in IoT“. Seven experts among the i3-MARKET partners were panellists in the session. They presented different perspectives on the evolution of Digital transformation and the role Data/AI/IoT technologies have played influencing it. The partners focused on four application areas of the project: Automotive Industry, Industrial IoT, Intelligent Manufacturing and Smart Health / Active Healthy Aging.
i3-MARKET at the European Big Data Value Forum 2020
i3-MARKET was thrilled to participate in the European Big Data Value Forum 2020 from 3 to 5 November 2020. As a sponsor of the event, we had an online booth on the exhibition area. Through the forum’s virtual tool Whova, we were able to meet data experts and have direct interaction with visitors. In addition to the virtual booth, the i3-MARKET coordinator, Dr. Martin Serrano from NUIG, held a 30-minute ‘sponsor talk’ in the plenary session on “Deployment of Secure and Trusted Data Marketplace Platforms in Europe”, explaining the opportunities that AI and Big Data offer to Innovate the Single Digital Market Strategy.
i3-Market Technical Overview
The i3-MARKET project will contribute to the growth of the European data market economy by providing solutions using blockchain-like technologies for managing data operations and transactions and encrypted-based technologies for data protection that could be used for implementing the data markets integration. Architecturally speaking, i3-MARKET uses trusted, federated and decentralised software components, enabling the integration of other marketplaces.
EUHubs4Data Open Call for funding for data-driven SMEs, startups and Web Entrepreneurs
The Horizon 2020 project EUHubs4Data shares our target of a growing global data economy and common European data spaces.
The project aims to build a European federation of Data Innovation Hubs by connecting key players in this area with data incubators and platforms, SME networks, AI communities, skills and training organisations and open data repositories. Cross-border and cross-sector data-driven experimentation will be facilitated through data-sharing and data- and service interoperability. Open Call for funding: If you are a data-driven SME, startup or Web Entrepreneur, the EuHubs4Data First Open Call offers 60,000€ to develop your idea, as well as technical and business support, visibility and promotion! Deadline: 8 February 2021
Atos SE is a leader in digital services. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions and Transactional Services. Atos Research & Innovation (ARI) is the R&D hub for emerging technologies and a key reference for the whole Atos group. With more than 28 years of experience in running Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) projects, they have become a well-known player in the EU context. In i3-MARKET, ARI combines the knowledge of two units’ teams; Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data & Robotics as well as the Transport Systems & Urban Mobility. The first unit is providing the technical leadership to build-up the i3-MARKET backplane- in conjunction with the overall solution deployment. The second unit is leading one of the three Industrial project pilots is known as Industrial Pilot #1 Automotive Sector. Read more
AUEB is the third oldest University in Greece; it provides education both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the fields of Economics, Business Administration, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, Management Science and Technology, Informatics, and Statistics. AUEB is a leader among the higher education institutions of economics and business in Greece and the broader region.
AUEB is involved in i3-MARKET through the ELTRUN research lab, and the Athens Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEin).
As a business centered institution, AUEB mainly supports the project’s business exploitation by formulating viable and sustainable business models for i3-MARKET as part of a broader project commercialization strategy that can also serve as a blueprint for data-marketplaces and other relevant actors in general. Read more
Let’s stay in touch!
If you are interested in the i3-MARKET project objectives, progress and results of activities, we encourage you to get involved and continuously follow i3-MARKET’s updates!
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).
On 21 October 2020, i3-MARKET contributed to the DigitalAroundTheWorld conference with an experts’ panel on «Bringing the Data Platforms Perspective in IoT». Seven experts among the i3-MARKET partners were panellists in the session: Martin Serrano, Carolin Rubner, Septimiu Nechifor, Tomas Pariente Lobo, Bruno Michel, Jean-Loup Dépinay, and Cinzia Rubattino. They presented different perspectives on the evolution of Digital transformation and the role Data/AI/IoT technologies have played influencing it. The partners focused on four application areas of the project: Automotive Industry, Industrial IoT, Intelligent Manufacturing and Smart Health / Active Healthy Aging.
In-house data is not enough for many organizations embarked in Digital Transformation. On the other hand, there is a clear trend towards capitalizing data via data platforms or data marketplaces. Tomás Pariente Lobo, from Atos, presented existing data sharing initiatives and data marketplaces and the need to federate these efforts. Therefore, i3-MARKET is working on simplifying access to multiple marketplaces.
Carolin Rubner, from Siemens AG, presented data platforms and marketplaces for intelligent manufacturing. Indeed, data platforms and marketplaces for sharing or trading data assets in intelligent manufacturing ecosystems need to be based on trust. Therefore, future i3-MARKET solutions need to integrate trust-enabling properties such as openness and fairness, security and privacy, consensus-based ruling, and non-centralized control to make these marketplaces successful.
Jean-Loup Dépinay, from Idemia, then explained that Data Markets need to ensure security of transactions and enforcement of users’ privacy, as well as new ways to control accounting, governance, identity and transactions. Therefore, i3-MARKET is proposing to base this control on a tamper-proof ledger (to register transactions), consensus-based governance (every changes approved by all nodes), and cryptographic keys (all transaction signed). Through a hardware wallet embedded in a card or a SIM card, we will target to enable this control for every users in a smooth way in their personal environment using smartphones.
Finally, Bruno Michel, from IBM, focused on the Smart Health sector. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an e-Health upsurge, due to overloaded health systems and infection risks posed by doctor visits or caregiver visits to support for elderly living independently. To maximize usefulness and versatility of e-Health systems, monitoring needs to be coupled with artificial intelligence. In this aspect, human centric sensing and computing promotes moving intelligence to data and not data to intelligence, as well as the use of federated learning on local data. However, both approaches as well as use of simulated data can ease increasing constraints due to privacy legislation.
Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
You can inform yourself on the latest news of the i3-MARKET project in the pdf above. This format also allows you to share it with other data-interested people in your company and your network.
In this first edition, you get to know more about i3-MARKET’s progress of the past 8 months, i.e. how we coped with COVID-19, our activities and events, as well as some exclusive information on the coordinators and the dissemination leads of the project, respectively NUIG and DIGITAL SME.
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Disclaimer
The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.
The biggest challenges related to data marketplaces and data monetisation
On 23 July, i3-MARKET hosted its first workshop, dedicated to the needs of potential end-users of the i3-MARKET solutions. The aim of the workshop was to gather the end-users’ view of the data market and to identify challenges related to data marketplaces, data usage and data monetisation.
While the first part of the workshop was a virtual discussion about data marketplaces between the participants and organisers, the second part was structured as an online workshop organised in different breakout sessions. In order to galvanise participants’ creative input, the workshop employed the so-called “6-3-5 brainwriting” technique. Developed by German marketing and business consultant Bernd Rohrbach, this technique fosters the rapid production of ideas and proposals in a small group setting. Groups of 6 people have to generate 3 ideas on a given topic in 5 minute-rounds. The workshop started with an open discussion on general issues regarding data marketplace and the data economy. From this discussion, three core issues were identified and discussed in the group brainstorming sessions:
1. Companies struggle with using the data they collect
2. Companies have trouble finding accessible data sets
3. There is a general lack of trust in data marketplaces
The brainstorming sessions led to following results:
1. Companies struggle with using the data they collect
According to the participants, the issue of not being able to use industrial data relates to ecosystem maturity. This can happen, for example, when there is no ecosystem leader and DaaS (Desktop as a service) is not yet established in the respective industry sector.
Participants also pointed to data cost and pricing. First of all, there is a high cost of handling, searching, and managing data. In addition, the value of data is also often unclear, and there is no free data for industrial use. Not being able to use data is also due to a lack of Open Data availability, or to the fact that Open Data is not necessarily available for commercial use, as well as due to the difficulty to find matching or useful data formats. Moreover, there are hurdles at the company level, the major problems being that there is often no clear understanding of the added value of sharing data or that companies are reluctant to share their data. On top of this, there is little compensation for data owners. Lastly, even if a company gathers and manages data, it might not be able to create value from it. Indeed, it takes a completely novel company structure to be able to incorporate knowledge derived from data or to sell it.
2. Companies have trouble finding accessible data sets
Regarding the problematic of finding relevant data, the main issue raised by the participants is the lack of trusted data providers. This is due to the difficulty to identify compliant organisations and matching users or providers, and to the missing standardisation for data extraction and storage. Finding relevant data is a challenge because of the lack of available Open Data, but also because of the high amount of data sources and the difficulty to find third-party data. Finally, the Data Services that are offered by existing marketplaces are still in their early stages, leaving significant room for improvement. Issues like customer support, data anonymisation, and dataset harmonisation are services that are missing or not offered to a full extent in the current ecosystem.
3. There is a general lack of trust in data marketplaces
When addressing the problematic of trust in a data marketplace, the participants cited regulation as one of the main issues. Indeed, there is a need for harmonised European regulation, for example a financial transaction framework, and for setting up (smart) contracts. Trusting a data marketplace requires to have trusted partners, which is challenging if there is no reliable user authentication and user verification, as well as no authority to turn to in case of conflicts. The source of the data should also be reliable. In addition, the workshop participants would expect from a data marketplace to have clear terms and conditions, a clear pricing model and a clear mention of the data ownership, as well as ease of use. Among other items, they listed search engines, after-sales support, and the possibility to anonymise data and users.
This first workshop offered valuable insights of data-marketplace users and their main issues. Among others, it seems that openness of data is a recurring problem for the participating companies, as it has been stressed throughout the different addressed problematics.
The results of the workshop will allow the i3-MARKET project partners to develop solutions matching real market needs.
As a mainly digital project, we are in the lucky position to keep working on i3-MARKET with full force despite the current pandemic.
We are staying connected to our stakeholders, building the platform, and informing the public about our progress!
It is our goal to contribute to a European data market infrastructure that helps you plug your data to the world–no matter if it rains, shines, or if there’s a global pandemic.
NEW: Tell us how COVID-19 has affected you as a data marketplace user by filling out this short survey!
Staying connected via online meetings
Organising virtual conferences with our community
Engaging with people via social media and our website
Keeping stakeholders up-to-date with informative visual material and posts
Please feel free to reach out to us via our contact form below or on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages if you want to learn more about the project!
Stay safe and plug your data to the world!
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 was thrilled to participate in the European Big Data Value Forum 2020 from 3 to 5 November 2020. As a sponsor of the event, we had an online booth on the exhibition area. Through the forum’s virtual tool Whova, we were able to meet data experts and have direct interaction with visitors. In addition to the virtual booth, the i3-MARKET coordinator, Dr. Martin Serrano from NUIG, held a 30-minute ‘sponsor talk’ in the plenary session on “Deployment of Secure and Trusted Data Marketplace Platforms in Europe”, explaining the opportunities that AI and Big Data offer to Innovate the Single Digital Market Strategy.
