OSOZ WORLD

Europe Braces For The Game Of Data-Driven Economies

Europe is seeking its path of technological progress, focusing on democratic and ethical values. Will such idealistic visions suffice for the old continent to become an exporter of innovative digital solutions, successfully competing with China and the US?

We are data Data are the raw material from which we derive knowledge to create innovations. In healthcare, which is only just entering digital transformation, data are the basis of personalized healthcare; they can also speed up research into new drugs. Without data, there is no development of artificial intelligence systems. Indeed, data are one of the most valuable natural resources in the modern world, but data can also have a different value depending on the historical context. In European culture, data are seen as private property, a personal good, un- like in China, where they are a collective and common good, or the US, where their business value is the top attribute. China and the US are both huge markets, with 382 million and 1.393 billion consumers of digital solutions. Dynamic development of these markets is possible thanks to access to citizens’ data, and considerable investments in digital infrastructures. Europe misses such a common space. Until now, the Member States of the European Union have sought to strengthen their competitiveness in the digitization market individually. However, it quickly turned out that such a strategy stood no chance of success. When acting alone, even such strong economies like France or Germany were losing the race with technology giants from American or Chinese silicon valleys. Importantly, in this game, the future and prosperity of citizens are at stake. Digitization creates jobs and leads to economic growth. The ability to develop digital innovations will determine whether Europe becomes an exporter or a mere importer of innovation. And technologies are more than services and products. Actually, they are about values.

Potential with difficulties In order to play a leading role in the data-based economy of the future, Europe must harness the power of its single market with 446 million consumers, academic and research centers, and an exceptionally robust network of small and medium-sized businesses. Therefore, a

European strategy for data presented in February 2020 aims at building a single market for data, which will guarantee the availability of the data necessary to generate innovation in the economy and society. The EU plans to create a single data market in which data will be able to flow not only between the individual EU Member States but also between different sectors of the economy. The strategy emphasizes compliance with privacy and data protection laws and delivers practical and transparent rules for using data. The EU is to become an attractive, secure, and dynamic data-agile economy with interoperable systems and services based on the European cloud. One of the elements of the new ecosystem will also be the secondary use of data, for example, for scientific purposes. The intended hallmark of the European approach to data would be to equip EU citizens with the rights, tools, and skills necessary to maintain full control over their data in accordance with the principle of “transparent and ethical data processing and the development of technology which puts people first.” The benefits mentioned in the strategy include improving the quality of healthcare, creating safe and environmentally friendly means of transport (such as autonomous and electric cars), reducing the costs of public services, and sustainable economic development. Enterprises involved in the development of digital services will gain access to data as part of the “secondary use” framework, which should accelerate their business progress.

Specific steps for the years to come So much for the promising visions of the future. The road to the strategy implementation is going to be a bumpy one. Twenty-seven separate EU’s economies are at different stages of development, so far unable to implement a cross-border data exchange due to the lack of interoperability of their information systems. Data are not only scattered and trapped in silos but, at times, also fall short of quality standards. Significant differences in national legislation may stand in the way, but also cultural factors, such as trust in public institutions. Once all barriers are overcome, less obvious obstacles may arise, such as the protection of national interests that conflict with European unity and solidarity. Indeed, data are stored in silos not only because of technical shortfalls to ex

» Europe aims to capture the benefits of a better use of data. «

change them but often because of mere unwillingness to share them. The strategy includes a specific roadmap to acquire a leading position in the global data-based economy. In the period 2021-2027, the Commission plans to invest 2 billion EUR in the European High Impact Project. The driving force behind the development of new services will be small and medium-sized enterprises. All citizens are to gain control over the data, although it is not clear yet what this arrangement would look like. Besides, the new framework provides for supporting the development of the European data spaces in some key sectors, such as industrial production, green trade, mobility, and healthcare. The European Commission will start the procedure for adopting the implementing act on high-value data sets (according to the plan, in Q1 2021) under the Open Data Directive, making such data sets available across the EU, free of charge, in a machine-readable format and via standard application programming interfaces (APIs). By Q2 2022, a coherent framework will be developed, covering a variety of rules (including self-regulatory solutions) that will apply to cloud services. As a first step, the set of rules on cloud computing will be a compendium of existing codes of conduct for cloud service providers and cloud service certification systems in terms of security, energy efficiency, quality of service, data protection, and data portability. By Q4 2022, the Commission will facilitate the creation of a cloud market for private and public users in the EU. The strategy notes that by 2025, the EU and the Member States should have halved the current shortage of 1 million digital specialists. That means investing in digital skills. The priority of the updated Digital Education Action Plan is to increase data access and use so that educational and training establishments are prepared to meet the demands of the digital age. One of the nine common European data spaces will be the European health data space, essential for advances in preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases, as well as for informed, evidencebased decisions to improve the accessibility, effectiveness, and sustainability of healthcare systems. In addition to the creation of nine common European data spaces, work will continue on the European Open Science Cloud, which provides seamless access and reliable re-use of research data to European researchers, innovators, companies, and citizens. It is expected to be fully operational by 2025. By Q4 2021, a framework will be created to estimate the economic value of data and measure their flow in Europe and between Europe and the rest of the world. Consultations on the strategy continued until May this year. It is difficult to say to what extent the crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other resulting challenges will delay the practical implementation of the European strategy.

Stake in the game The EU dreams of becoming a leading role model for a society empowered by data to make better decisions – in business and the public sector. Some specific numbers can be found in the strategy. The volume of data produced in the world is increasing, from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to an expected 175 zettabytes in 2025. Furthermore, the way how data are stored and processed will change dramatically over the coming five years. Currently, 80% of the processing and analysis of data takes place in data centers and centralized computing facilities, and 20% in smart connected devices, such as cars, home appliances or manufacturing robots, and in computing facilities close to the user (“edge computing”). By 2025 these proportions are likely to be inverted. The value of data-based economies will have increased from 301 billion EUR in 2018 to a projected 829 billion EUR in 2025. Today, this figure accounts for 2.4% of European gross domestic product. 

The Power Of Big Tech Companies And How They Shape The World

Digital technologies are not just tools, but powerful weapons that enable economic growth, create new divides in society, cause wars, and threaten democracy. No one would have expected it’s the opinion of Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft. In his latest book “Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age” Smith takes us behind the stages of big tech and reveals the immense power of software, hardware, internet, and social media.

“Today’s technology issues are far broader and deeper than they were twenty years ago. We’ve reached a critical inflection point for both technology and society – a time that beckons with opportunity, but that also calls for urgent steps to address pressing problems,” claims Brad Smith in the introduction of his book. He assumes that the companies that create technologies must accept greater responsibility for the future. To guarantee that the solutions they make shape a better future for societies, self-regulation and government action are required.

“Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age” cover fifteen different issues, from public safety, privacy, social media, ethics to the influence of AI on the workforce, tech superpowers of China and USA, to democracy and digital diplomacy. Although many books address a similar topic, Brad Smith raises essential questions following the challenges that Microsoft has faced in its business activities. And often, these are difficult choices between selfinterest, profit, ethical dilemmas, external pressures, and long-term consequences. However, the perspective of the author, the President of Microsoft, perfectly reflects the role played by large techno-

logy companies in the modern world and the authorities they hold. On the one side, the book can be perceived as a perfect PR campaign for the big tech company that, after all, has many ethically and legally questionable activities in its portfolio. Microsoft has been the subject of numerous lawsuits. Bill Gates’ Microsoft was fined for monopolistic practices in Europe, and it cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system for internet censorship. In 2019, the company faced protests against the contract to develop virtual reality headsets for the US Army. Recently, in May 2020, the tech giant has decided to replace many MSN journalists with an artificial intelligence system. How do such actions relate to the opinion presented in the book that “one goal is to harness AI and create new technology that will help people work better”? The list of scandals is much longer, but it does not take away the author’s mandate to draw smart visions of a better, digitilized tomorrow. It only shows the gap between fair and ethical business and profits needed for expansion. In the globalized world’s economy, primarily focused on the competition and not on sustainable growth, many companies that follow utopian principles don’t survive long. Maybe we should start by solving this principal problem. Microsoft alone will not save the world. Brad Smith is asking tough questions. Sometimes he gives answers and calls to more industry regulation. However, many times he doesn’t find the solution, because the future cannot be fully predicted. For example, in terms of the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market. Often the suggestions are so general that they are giving only an idea of where to start without drawing a roadmap. This is the case when he says that “well-informed and broad-minded leadership needs to translate into more proactive steps at individual tech companies and also more collaboration across the tech sector as a whole.” Apart from the fact that the book presents only situations where Microsoft’s decisions arouse our sympathies, it gives a deep insight into the connections between business, politics, and economy. It allows us to better understand what dilemmas technology companies face, how many spheres need to be regulated in order for their business activities to be based on values important to people. It is also a fascinating journey behind the scenes of Microsoft’s life and high-level meetings like those with Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Barack Obama, President of China Xi Jinping, or Pope Francis. Brad Smith explains consumer privacy issues on the example of GDPR, presents the background of lawmaking recalling the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD). He shows the devastating impact of cyber-attacks like WannaCry, explains what the so-called techplomacy or digital diplomacy is, pictures the power of data in the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, makes aware of social media threats analyzing the Cambridge Analytica data misuse. There are a number of case studies that we probably know from the headlines in the press, but we have never had the opportunity to explore them in detail. Smith has the talent to tell the stories in a captivating way. Technology, new laws, data breaches, meetings, and negotiations are only the scenes to let us think about the essential values and the world that we want to live in. He explains even the most sophisticated challenges like data operability or historical context of a different approach to technology development in the USA and China using terminology understood by everybody. “Technology innovation is not going to slow down. The work to manage it needs to speed up,” concludes the author. In the case of developing dynamically new technologies, it may turn out that the speed with which new problems arise is higher than the speed of addressing already known challenges. In order to ensure that the technology does not lead to irreversible, adverse changes, but rather to sustainable economic growth with benefits for everyone, it cannot be left to keep developing on its own. Reading this book helps to understand why we should change the way we see the role of technology. 

» The world has turnedThe world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon. «