EU Data Strategy: Prifina’s Proposal to Build a User-Centric Data Ecosystem

On February 19, 2020, the European Commission published the EU Data Strategy, which establishes an ambitious framework for the EU to build and take full advantage of data-driven innovation. The EU Data Strategy is built on a human-centric data privacy model that uses European values and fundamental rights as its foundation and prioritizes the interests of individuals.

The Strategy is an important step forward for the EU, which aims to build a fair data economy that maximizes data value. The EU believes that establishing this new data economy will promote economic growth in the EU and contribute to the welfare of individual consumers.

In this post, we briefly review the main issues highlighted in the EU data strategy and propose four main domains where the EU should act to facilitate the development of a user-centric data ecosystem.

The Aims of the EU Data Strategy

The EU Data Strategy is founded on the understanding that data-driven innovation can bring enormous benefits to individuals, businesses, and society in general. In light of rapid technological developments and the immense value that can be gained by harnessing data, the EU aims to use data to make better decisions both in business and in the public sector and become a leading role model of a society empowered by data.

Therefore, the EU aims to continue building a strong legal framework and internal market to capture the benefits of improved data usage. One of the main objectives of the EU Data Strategy is to launch an ongoing consultation with various stakeholders on specific measures that could keep the EU at the forefront of data-agile technology.

Issues at Stake

The EU Data Strategy singles out the following areas that are critical in building an effective data-driven economy:

• Data processing: The volume of data produced has been growing at an incredible pace (from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 175 zettabytes in 2025). There are also remarkable shifts happening in the data processing industry. Currently, most data processing takes place in centralized computing facilities. This will rapidly change in the near future, when most data will be processed closer to the user, thanks to the emergence of edge computing technologies.
• The importance of data for the economy and society: data is expected to reshape every industry and every aspect of an individual’s life. Data is already the lifeblood of economic development, and will only become more valuable as time passes. Data-driven insights help increase greeted efficiency and facilitate the development of more sophisticated products and services.
• Becoming a key player in the data economy: The EU Data Strategy recognizes that the EU has the technology, the know-how, and the highly skilled workforce it needs to be a key player in the data economy. So far, the EU has played a leading role in driving data privacy debates, which have mostly related to the adoption of GDPR and entrenching the principles of data minimization, data portability, and basic data subject rights.

EU’s Vision of Data Governance

The EU Data Strategy aims to establish the data-driven economy based on the following principles:

• The individual is central. The economy should address the needs of individuals and allow data to create value for the economy and society;
• The EU should be an attractive location to conduct business activities;
• Data should flow openly within the EU and across sectors;
• Data access and data use regulations in the EU should be fair, practical, and clear.

Building Data-driven Economy: The Problems

In order to realize its potential in the data economy, the EU Commission identified a number of problems and challenges that it must overcome.

1. Fragmentation between Member States. One of the underlying challenges relates to the fact that many EU member states have started developing their own approaches to dealing with various data-related issues (e.g., regulations dealing with privately-held data but public agencies, data processing for scientific purposes, adaptations of antitrust laws, etc.).

2. Availability of data. The value of data lies in its use and re-use. Currently, even though there is a lot of data collected, there is not enough data available for reuse. The EU Data strategy highlighted the following areas in which it is hard to re-use data for the public good: (a) use of public sector data for business, (b) sharing data between businesses, and © the use of business-held data by governments.

3. Data infrastructure and technologies. The EU Data Strategy highlighted the fact that Europe is relying on cloud service providers, the majority of whom are non-EU companies, and that the use of cloud-based services in the EU is relatively low (this is especially true in the case of the public sector).

4. Imbalances in market power. Small and medium enterprises are suffering from limited opportunities to access and use data. In the view of the EU Commission, the fact that only a few major companies dominate the market leads to market distortions. Thus, it would be advantageous for the European economy to curtail this “data advantage” and develop additional rules that contribute to the development of a fair data economy.

5. Data interoperability and data quality were identified as another area in which change would be welcome. Data interoperability, data quality, and data structure, authenticity, and integrity are all key to harnessing data value. This can hardly be achieved without some shared standards, formats, and protocols.

6. Data literacy and empowering individuals to exercise their rights and. The EU Data Strategy acknowledged that despite the data privacy rights conferred in the GDPR, individuals lack the tools and means to decide how their data is utilized. It was also highlighted that individuals lack critical skills needed to understand the potential of their personal data.

7. Cybersecurity. While there have been efforts to implement strong technologies to counter cybersecurity threats and attacks, the EU Commission emphasized the need to develop the highest cybersecurity standards. To achieve this, new approaches and emerging decentralized technologies (such as blockchain) should be further explored.

The Strategy

The Data Strategy identified four main pillars upon which further actions will be based:

Cross-sectoral governance framework for data access and use. Horizontal measures for data access and use should create the necessary framework for a data-agile economy and help avoid harmful fragmentation in the market. The EU will aims to become the global leader in implementing policies and regulations pertaining to data use and re-use. To accomplish that goal, the existing policy framework will be reviewed, a new Data Act will be proposed in 2021, and additional legislative measures will be implemented to address the governance of common European Data spaces.

Enablers: investment in data and strengthening of EU’s ability to host, process, and use data (interoperability). In order to facilitate data-driven innovation, the EU aims to invest heavily (appr. 4–6B Euros) in SMEs that use new technologies, such as edge computing, cyber-security, quantum computing, and 6G networks. The goal of investment is to develop “European data spaces” that encompass data sharing architecture (e.g., data sharing standards, best practices, tools) and governance mechanisms.

Competences: Empowering individuals, investing in skills and SMEs. The EU Data strategy also envisions that further improvements can be made to give individuals control of their data and the ability to decide how their data is used.l. To accomplish this, the EU will explore enhancing the portability right for individuals.

Common EU data spaces in strategic sectors. Seeking to stimulate the use of data, the EU Commission has specified the following “common European data spaces” as areas that require further development: manufacturing, climate change, mobility, health data, agriculture data, data for public administration, and personal skills data.

The vision of a common European data space implies an open and proactive international approach based on European values. The EU Commission pledged to focus on making the EU an attractive economy and promote its standards and values around the world.

User-Centric Data Ecosystem: Prifina’s Vision

Prifina applauds the EU Commission on its initiative to adopt EU Data Strategy and EU AI strategy and the ambition to turn the EU into the most attractive, most secure, and most dynamic data-agile economy in the world.

Prifina concurs with the position set forth in the EU Data Strategy that “citizens should be empowered to make better decisions based on insights gleaned from non-personal data” as well as personal data. We also believe that in the future individuals should have their personal data under their own control.

Prifina sees how the entire data ecosystem is moving towards user-held, user-centric data models. In such user-centric data environments, individuals have their personal data in their personal data clouds and are in full control of their data. In practice, this means that individuals can determine with whom and under what conditions their personal data is shared; they may also revoke or adjust sharing levels, as well as flag perceived misuse or over-reach to the market and their peers. The user-held data model enables individuals to exercise granular, informed consent.

Based on such user-held, user-centric data principles, Prifina develops tools that bring the individuals’ personal data to their own control and into their own personal cloud. In this user-held, user-centric data environment, new types of software applications can be created by anyone and offered directly to individuals.

In the user-held data model, data is separate from applications. This means that individuals have control over their personal data, how it is used, and who can have access to it. It also means that data stays local in the individual’s personal cloud or personal device. The risk of data leaks or data hacks will be significantly distributed and curtailed.

In order to achieve the goals of building a viable, competitive, fair, and transparent data economy, the software developer community is going to be a key driving force. As a company, Prifina is building tools that are helping software developers to build new types of applications on top of user-held data and open technology data standards.

Suggestions for the EU Commission

Having carefully investigated the EU Data Strategy, Prifina suggests that the EU Commission take necessary measures and actions to achieve the following four objectives.

1. Clarify that individuals have ownership rights over the personal data which is held by individuals in their personal data clouds.

Prifina believes that one of the crucial aspects of a fair, transparent, and efficient data economy is the establishment of a clear data ownership right over personal data. This ownership right should cover personal data that is collected by an individual in a personal data cloud or a device.

From an economic perspective, individuals cannot benefit from their personal data if they do not have the necessary legal safeguards to protect their rights. This data ownership would catalyze other economic uses of personal data stored in personal data clouds: individuals will be able to give permissions to third parties to access their personal data under terms determined by each individual.

2. Guarantee that consumers are able to get copies of their personal data from service providers and IoT devices.

Currently, Article 15 of the GDPR sets forth individuals’ right to access their personal data. The EU Commission should take action to guarantee that individuals can get copies of personal data that has been collected by controllers (service providers, makers of IoT devices, etc.). Such “master copies” of personal data should be provided instantly and in readable form.

3. Ascertain the existence of services and infrastructure that help individuals get their data and keep it safe.

The rise of access to, ownership of, and value from personal data brings forth new requirements for security standards and protections on an individual-first basis. In practice, this means that individuals’ data should also be strongly protected from misuse, theft, and breaches, even in cases where data resides under individual control rather than under the control of a business.

New technologies, such as those that keep personal data on personal devices, will emerge to help position personal data closer to the individual. As such, protections will need to follow that guarantee individual consumers are treated as consumers, not businesses, when in charge of their own personal data.

4. Foster the growth of an open data market where consumers get value from their personal data.

Prifina believes that the data market is shifting from an enterprise market to an open market that contains a consumer market. This consumer market will consist of software developers and enterprises who build applications on top of user-held data and offer them directly to individual consumers; no third party data business or data platform needs to participate.

The EU can foster the development of a balanced, fair data market by providing clear rules, frameworks, and legal rights, starting from an “individual first” stance. We have noted that the Commission’s strategy is structured around the notion that businesses will be the main actors generating value from personal data. While that may generally be the case, we want to challenge that assumption and ensure that the same market rights apply when the developers, users, and generators of data are individuals themselves.

Connect With Us and Stay in Touch

Prifina helps individuals get bespoke value from their personal data and provides tools for developers to build applications on top of user-held data.

You can follow Prifina on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and join our Slack: “Liberty. Equality. Data.”