Data Governance: Enhancing Innovation and Protecting Against Its Risks

Big Data is expected to unleash data-driven innovation, which is supposed to better address and solve challenges in our society. As a so-called non-rival good, the sharing and re-using of data by one actor does not diminish its value for other actors and can create significant spillover effects. However, data is still often stored in data silos. Releasing data from silos and sharing it may therefore enhance social and economic welfare. Of course, digitisation and data-driven innovation also entail risks. For decades, experts have discussed, depending on the discipline, the risks that result from the accumulation of informational power: risks for individuals, for example, for their privacy, autonomy or freedom and equality, but also for the society as a whole, for example, for its democratic constitution, solidarity principle or free markets.