Startup Commons takes important step towards open personal data ecosystems with MyData

Today, we are celebrating Startup Commons' involvement in MyData Global’s recently published paper, Understanding MyData Operators. It is a foundational step on a roadmap towards a human-centric personal data infrastructure that involved 34 experts and was supported by 48 personal data operators in 15 countries. The MyData vision published in 2015, describes operators as actors in personal data ecosystems, that provide infrastructure for human-centric personal data management and governance.

Startup Commons is one such organisation and prides itself on its contribution to the creation of sustainable ecosystems where the use of data is transparent and individuals are empowered to make decisions over its use. As providers of infrastructure for personal data management, via our ecosystem level user account as a service, Circle Pass, we recognise our responsibility in creating sustainable ecosystems for fair and ethical use of personal data.  

The need for a human-centric data economy is evident: fighting and understanding the impact of COVID19 in a privacy-preserving way and creating better public and private services are just some of the examples. The paper creates a common language, leading to a better understanding of the field and the roles different actors can take. From there, it defines minimum interoperability requirements and emphasises the need for governance.  

Óscar Ramírez, Co-founder and CEO at Startup Commons says, “we are pleased to have been part of a robust and creative process over the last year with other experts and service providers. To make Startup Commons' vision a reality, it is essential we are open to collaborate with other service providers to deliver interoperability and standards across the ecosystem. The intense collaboration of the last few months has allowed us all to contribute to an insightful paper which we proud to support.” 

“We are really proud that MyData Global has facilitated this landmark paper”, says Teemu Ropponen, general manager of MyData Global. “Operator organisations worldwide have joined on a common journey towards interoperable infrastructure for using personal data across digital services. These operators commit to working in a way that not only puts the rights of the individual in the centre, but also sets them on a collective path to build ecosystems that work for people. The MyData operator philosophy is very much aligned with the recently published EU data strategy, which emphasises the rights of individuals in these developing infrastructures.” 

From here on, we will continue to help the MyData Operators Thematic Group in keeping the operators network connected, contributing to thought leadership and working towards interoperability, both in technology, governance as well as human-centric business models. 

To download the paper now and see updates in the future from this community visit: https://mydata.org/operators/ 

For more information contact: https://www.startupcommons.org/contact-us.html

About Startup Commons:  
A member of MyData Global, Startup Commons is building and coordinating the implementation, development and maintenance of an open standard framework for innovation entrepreneurship ecosystems, aiming to effectively enable the ability of diverse systems, organisations and cities to work together, to componentize and to “plug together” ecosystem components and eventually enhancing real collaborations and building connected ecosystems. Startup Commons focuses on developing data models, APIs, related documentation and growing the number of parties and applications from around the world to connect with this distributed data infrastructure.

Circle Pass is a service that is part of the ecosystemOS package provided by Startup Commons Global, focused on digitally connecting, visualising and benchmarking startup ecosystems for economic development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation.

About MyData Global: 
MyData Global is an award-winning international nonprofit. The purpose of MyData Global is to empower individuals by improving their right to self-determination regarding their personal data. MyData Global has nearly 90 organisation members and over 600 individual members across industries, and from over 50 countries, on six continents. The nonprofit facilitates the MyData community of several thousand personal data experts and enthusiasts.  
MyData is described in the recently published EU data strategy as a promising initiative for empowering citizens through exercising their digital rights.