Europe's Data Strategy Review: Will Europe Exert Dominance in the Data-Driven Economy?

The European Union (EU) has published more details about its data strategy, aiming to empower individuals and businesses in the data-driven economy. However, challenges persist in implementing data quality, access, and sharing.

One of the key challenges is the cost associated with data quality for businesses, and the difficulty for policymakers to mandate it. Yet, education, skills, and digital literacy are critical to empowering individuals in the data economy. The EU's data strategy aims to provide individuals with tools to exercise their rights better, but they need to understand these tools to be able to use them effectively.

A growing number of data management companies acting as data intermediaries can help address data sharing challenges, such as by monitoring data use. These intermediaries can facilitate the free flow of data, a commitment the EU upholds, while also promoting multilateral systems of data flows with other partners.

Data availability is another challenge due to lack of incentives for data sharing, trust issues, privacy concerns, and interoperability problems. To address this, the EU data strategy aims to develop governance mechanisms for a more diversified and decentralized data economy. This includes the creation of common European data spaces, which will enable all stakeholders to participate in defining data governance practices and lower data sharing costs.

Andreas Hartl supports the creation of sector-specific data spaces with tailored governance approaches for each sector's challenges. This approach could help overcome obstacles such as restricted access to certain data, costs of acquiring data, compliance costs, and legal security in data use.

The GDPR's data portability rights should be adjusted to make data portability possible. Companies such as Facebook and Google are already involved in data transfer projects that allow users to move their data across platforms. However, 80% of respondents have encountered difficulties in accessing and using data from other companies.

The EU's data strategy also aims to give more agency and control to individuals over their data, including for altruistic purposes. Eline Chivot suggests a greater focus on data quality rather than just interoperability and data standards to address challenges in data sharing, privacy, and AI system inaccuracy.

Companies are important stakeholders in the implementation of the EU data strategy, and they should be incentivized with a voluntary framework. Many existing data sharing initiatives within industry, codes of conducts, and self-regulation frameworks exist. However, digital sovereignty should not lead to regimes that mandate data sharing without justification, to regulatory divergence, or to data localization which is detrimental to the free flow of data, the economy, and consumers.

The detailed publication date of the Commission's further information regarding the European Data Strategy is not available at this time. The strategy's ultimate goal is to enable active participation of individuals as agents and powerful consumers in the data market. This approach could help create a more equitable and inclusive data economy for all.

Europe's Data Strategy Review: Will Europe Exert Dominance in the Data-Driven Economy?