MyData will change our lives

The world around us is digitalising and becoming increasingly based on data. Data is already collected in massive amounts that will grow even further in the future. With the help of analytics and artificial intelligence, this data is used as fuel for all kinds of services to personalise the content and the experience for us.

The data that is collected about us is usually owned by large international companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba. These giants offer us personalised services, they know everything about us, and they make money with the data. But that very data is our data, and we are the real owners.

What MyData can do is bring the ownership back to us. It can enable us to get better services, because we have all the data about ourselves. We can control the data that is collected about us, we can decide whom to give the data, and we can get compensation if someone is using our data to make money.

Here’s some food for thought: would you give your health data to a company for research so that a better medicine can be developed and commercialised and you can ultimately live a disease-free life?

Why is this interesting for Finland? I believe that MyData can help to create a better society based on data. I also think that it can realise a more diverse marketplace where even smaller companies – like the ones we have in Finland – can operate and generate enough business. This requires new policies, laws with enough flexibility, ethical considerations and experiments – we have taken action in all of these areas here in Finland.

Now, with the help of Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU and MyData, our mission is to engage the whole of Europe to join us in creating growth and competitiveness for Europe, as well as a more functional society for the citizens.

This is not just politics. This is something for all of us, you and me. This is good news from Finland.

Good News from Finland

is published by Finnfacts, which is part of Business Finland.