NewTech Friday: Datavillage – taking back control of our data

What led to the creation of Datavillage?

The idea for Datavillage came in 2018. The question was: what if, as a user, I took back control of the data I produce over the internet? What if I could get a simple view of how it is used and by whom? After a few months, the idea arrived at the creation of Datavillage in February 2019. We quickly realized that the value lay first in the use of this data by digital services and then in the control by users.

We decided to combine the two.

In two years, the market has changed a lot. According to a BBC study, 82% of users say they are losing control and privacy. It is therefore important that companies worry about privacy and transparency towards their users and make them a business asset by increasing their trust to engage more with their consumers (what global players like Apple, which brand themselves as "The king of privacy", or even Google have understood).

On the regulatory side, next to the well-known GDPR, we are also seeing the emergence of new regulations such as the data governance act which seeks to facilitate the sharing of data while guaranteeing control and transparency towards citizens and consumers.

Today, most organizations focus on collecting more and more data in their own silo in order to provide ever more personalized services. But at what cost and at what risk?

Could you present Datavillage's offer?

Datavillage is a platform that gives back control of the data to the individual and allows companies to access it without collecting it from their side. It fosters trust and privacy between services and with users for a better experience.

The platform quickly integrates into existing digital service channels. It allows them to use third-party data produced by their users on other platforms without accessing this data.

Users get a "Personal Data Cockpit" to manage their personal data store (based on https://solidproject.org/) Organizations embed a "Personal Data Passport" to get consent from users and process personal data in a "Datacage". A confidential processing environment where the organization algorithm can be applied to personal data with full privacy. Only the derived data is shared with the organization.

The use case developed with RTBF Auvio and VRT Nu allows them to promote their content and cover a multi-platform media journey. Users retrieve data produced on one platform and use that data to get recommendations for content on another platform. This experience is extended to global players such as Spotify, Youtube, or Instagram, which makes the complementarity between global players and local players effective.

Learn more about Datavillage

What's coming next for Datavillage?

For 2022, we will mainly work on two aspects in finance.

First on the extension of the media use case to the field of finance. Financial information is essential in a digital investment journey and in particular for self-investors. Allowing an investor to access the right financial information relating to his portfolio and his investment profile is made possible without sharing data.

We combine investor portfolio data with financial information platforms to get tailored recommendations of content with privacy.

Second, we will continue to work on new use cases related to behavioral data, privacy, and consumer data control. Particularly in the field of insurance personalization and the calculation of the insured's profile without their data being shared.

If you are interested in the easy implementation of decentralization and data control technologies in your digital channels, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our approach is based on co-creation and we provide the technical accelerators as well as data thinking tools to define opportunities and realize them quickly.