highlights dataweek 2021 datavaults

Highlights from DataVaults at Data Week 2021

The Data Week 2021 event was an online event (due to the global CoViD-19 pandemic) that went on in the last week of May 2021 (between the 25th and the 27th of May) with the aim to father the research and innovation community of EU Big Data and AI and discuss the ongoing progress in these domains, facilitate liaisons and knowhow and shed light on the ongoing developments at EU and global level.

DataVaults has participated in this event by organizing an online session titled “Exploring the Real Value of Personal Data Sharing – Big Data of the Many, Exploited by Few? Or not any more?” that aimed to present the main concept of the project, and discuss certain aspects around the usage, the technological needs and the societal and business requirements, as they spring out of the domain of personal data, focusing on the means and measures employed to attribute fair data distribution amongst all stakeholders of that value chain, and identify factors that impede data sharing and utilisation in the era of Big data and AI.

During this track, different discussions took place, driven by the DataVaults partners as well as from selected invited speakers, aiming to share ideas and approaches and foster collaboration between the different stakeholders of the domain.

highlights dataweek 2021 datavaults speakers 1
DataVaults at Data Week 2021 – Speakers

The session opened with the introduction speech of Mr. Glickman from Fraunhofer FOKUS who is the coordinator of DataVaults.

Mr. Malte Beyer-Katzenberger  from the European Commission’s Data Policy and Innovation (CNECT.G.1) talked about the role for personal data spaces in a human-centric data economy, discussing also how such aspects are brought forward by the EU Data Governance Act.

Following this presentation, Mr. Glickman took the floor to present the overall concept of the DataVaults project, talking on how personal data platforms can give back control of data to their rightful owners.

The next presentation was provided by Ms. Blankertz from Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV) Think Tank, who talked about how personal data can be used for the common good, providing such examples and discussing on the social impact that such platforms can have, as well as its social innovation and cocreation aspects.

On the same tone, Mr. Topham from Assentian Limited discussed about the value that such platforms can bring to cities,, arguing that personal data can indeed act as big data that can fuel the engines of Smart Cities, and presented the Smart City Marketplace Initiative “Citizen Control of Personal Data” that is led by DataVaults.

Dr. Koussouris from Suite5 Data Intelligence Solutions Ltd then discussed the technical innovations and core building blocks that can be used to deliver such platforms, focusing on the perspectives of security and privacy, as well as on the methods used to enable value flows of data between the different engaged stakeholders, referring also to how such technologies are demonstrated in the context of the DataVaults project.

The series of presentations concluded with Mr. Martinez from Atos, who talked about the exchange of big data in a more business relevant environment between various stakeholders, as delivered by the Bodypass project.

 Following all the presentations, the floor was opened for a panel discussion, and an open Q&A session, where the presenters, alongside with selected panelist made some opening statements and questions from the audience were taken up.