Outcome of Post-GDPR: Future of Data Protection Summit

On 8 and 9 November 2018, the Summit: Post-GDPR: Future of Data Protection was hosted in Berlin, Germany. The Summit discussed the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on societies and businesses, its implications on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the ethics behind the usage and publication of data. A recurring theme throughout the Summit is the importance of trust in data collection and data management.

In the digital era, where our data is continuously being collected and analysed, trust will become a competitive differentiator. As consumers get more informed about how their data is being managed and used, they will become more selective about which companies they interact with. This raises questions:

1. How can we screen and ensure that the people managing the data and/or creating the algorithms that provide us with insights are doing so ethically and without bias?
2. How can companies and organisations continue to collect data for more insights whilst protecting personal data and ensuring that they are not shared without the individual's knowledge and consent?
3. What are the roles of digital intermediaries such as Google, Facebook and Amazon in managing and sharing personal data vs. data collected from searches and purchases (transactional data)?