Building the European data economy

On 10 January 2017, the European Commission adopted the "Building the European Data Economy" initiative. In this package of policy documents, the Commission sets out an initiative aimed at fostering the best possible ways to harness the potential of digital data for the economy and society. In fact, digital data has become an essential resource for economic growth, innovation and broader societal welfare. To facilitate the utilisation of this resource, the European Commission has set out a number of policies aimed to improve the usability of data in Europe. With these policies, the European Commission addresses the barriers that impede the free flow of data to achieve a European Digital Single Market.

To ensure the initiative is in line with the ongoing developments and needs of data users throughout Europe, the European Commission has launched a public consultation for stakeholders to share their thoughts. The objective of the consultation is to collect information on, amongst others:

• The role of data localisation in the free flow of data;
• The exchange and trade of digital non-personal machine-generated data;
• Emerging technologies such as Internet of Things.

The consultation is opened from 10 January to 26 April 2017 and the inputs gathered by the consultation will feed into the future development of the policy. Do you want to share your thoughts on the European Data economy? Go directly to the public consultation and share your expertise.