What will 2022 bring for the European Data Strategy?
In 2020, the European Commission unveiled its data strategy, which looks to exploit the untapped potential of data by creating a single market for data that will allow huge reserves of this highly valuable resource to flow freely within the EU and across sectors for the benefit of businesses, researchers and public administrations. As such, the European Data Strategy aims to make the EU a leader in our data-driven society, empowering people, businesses and organisations to make better decisions based on insights from data, which should be available to all. While it has been frequently stressed that the EU has missed the boat in terms of consumer data at the height of the platform explosion not too long ago, through the European Data Strategy the EU is currently seeking to redress the balance by strengthening its position among global leaders in the data economy.
In this regard, 2022 promises to be a particularly pivotal year for the European Data Strategy as this year will see many of its instruments being further developed, negotiated and adopted in some way or another. These instruments will (continue to) shape the digital economy and sector in Europe and beyond for the next decade. However, while 2022 is an important year, the story does not end there. It is merely the beginning, with this year offering the right moment for the EU to at least find a balance, establish some of the necessary trade-offs and come to a reasoned compromise in terms of how to move forward from here to ensure that all puzzle pieces that make up the European Data Strategy fit well together and with other existing EU instruments.
In this episode of The Law of Tech Podcast, I discussed predictions, promises and expectations in light of the European Data Strategy with Thomas Tombal, post-doctoral researcher at TILT and TILEC at Tilburg University.
To learn more about the law and tech predictions for 2022, check out this blog post: https://www.sectorplandls.nl/wordpress/digital-legal-labs-hopes-and-predictions-for-2022/.
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