IGF 2022 WS #430 The social value of data: a dialogue between North and South

Organizer 1: Maciel Marília, Diplo Foundation
Organizer 2: Parminder Jeet Singh, Just Net Coalition and IT for Change
Organizer 3: Virginia (Ginger) Paque, DiploFoundation
Organizer 4: Vladimir Radunovic, DiploFoundation

Speaker 1: Maciel Marília, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Anita Gurumurthy, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 3: Thomas Schneider, Government, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Moderator

Parminder Jeet Singh, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Online Moderator

Vladimir Radunovic, Civil Society, Eastern European Group

Rapporteur

Virginia (Ginger) Paque, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Format

Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

- What are the main preconditions for trustworthy data spaces and the incentives for data controllers to engage in data sharing arrangements?
- What are the advantages of placing the community at the centre when it comes to accruing the benefits of data?
- Could mechanisms for promoting access to data and data sharing benefit developing countries’ ability to pursue their digital industrialization strategies?

Connection with previous Messages: This workshop proposal helps to advance the following 2021 IGF messages:
- “In the debate on digital sovereignty and digital autonomy, more focus needs to be placed on the individual autonomy of Internet users within the digital realm”. The session will address the notions of individual self-determination and “community data”.
- “There is a necessity to strengthen the multistakeholder approach (...) The most powerful stakeholders - governments and private companies - are responsible for ensuring that civil society actors are able to meaningfully contribute to these processes”. The session will allow for the interaction between governments who are advancing proposals on data governance and data sharing with other stakeholders.

SDGs

8.1
8.2
8.3
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
17.14
17.15
17.17


Targets: Relation with targets under SDG 8:
The importance of data is paramount, not only for promoting innovation, but also for better policy-making and long-term development. Data availability and data flows are enablers of the digital transformation taking place within businesses and governments, and across the connected infrastructure that underpins modern cities. They are also an important enabler of e-commerce, which has played a prominent role in supporting economic activity during the crisis. The session will compare and contrast some country initiatives aimed at unlocking the value of data

Relation to targets under SDG 9:
There is no single recipe for promoting industrialisation, but there seems to be a growing understanding that digital technologies are at the core of successful, inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Nevertheless, there is a persistent concentration of digital ‘assets’, such as datasets, in the hands of certain large technology companies, located in a few jurisdictions, and market forces alone have not been able to ensure structural change and technology upgrading of developing countries. This session will discuss data sharing mechanisms, which could be one of the steps in addressing this issue.

Relation to targets under SDG 17:
The session encourages North-South dialogue and cooperation on a key issue related to the governance of technology.

Description:

Although data is non-rivalrous, data controllers have the capacity to restrict access to data for a myriad of reasons, such as protecting privacy, intellectual property, or to maintain a competitive edge. At present, there are insufficient incentives for data to be shared by data controllers, and insufficient obligations for them to fulfill the social value of data.
This session will address data sharing and data flows from national and international perspectives. It aims to establish a bridge between proposals advanced by actors in the Global North and in the Global South, such as Switzerland’s proposal of trustworthy data spaces, Japan’s proposal of data free flows with trust, India’s notion of community data, and discussions over data governance taking place in Africa, such as in the South African National Data and Cloud Policy proposal.

Expected Outcomes

Several countries are in the process of discussing frameworks for data governance, including Switzerland, Japan, India and South Africa. The session brings together representatives from the government, civil society and the private sector, and provides an opportunity for multistakeholder feedback which could help in shaping these ongoing policy discussions.
Switzerland has recently published a proposal of trustworthy data spaces and digital self-determination, which aims to incentivise data sharing, while maintaining individuals’ control over their data. As emphasized by the Swiss government, “The creation of trustworthy data spaces would require collaboration across stakeholder groups, rethinking competition among companies operating in the same market, and considering the creation of a voluntary code of conduct for the operation of data spaces.” (Digital Watch, 2022a) The IGF could provide a forum to discuss this multistakeholder collaboration.
The proposal on data free flows with trust (DFFT), launched under Japan’s leadership during the Osaka G20 meeting, aims to promote an architecture for international cooperation on data flows, increasing levels of trust. Japan will hold the presidency of the G20 in 2023 and intends to present concrete policy proposals on how DFFT can be implemented. The country will establish expert groups to study the phases and actors in data life-cycles, and to understand the actual barriers they face in operating with data (Digital Watch, 2022b). This study is expected to be published in December 2022. The workshop decision in the IGF could be an opportunity for the country to share the preliminary findings of the expert report. Multistakeholder discussions could also assist in offering elements for reflection to the Japanese presidency.
India and South Africa are large developing economies with well-developed digital markets, which are in the process of enacting important regulation on the national level of several digital issues, including with regards to data governance. The participation of actors from both countries will be essential not only to inform the IGF community of the most recent regulatory developments in India and South Africa, but also to offer a development-anchored feedback to proposals being advanced by countries in the Global North, promoting North-South cross-fertilisation.
This workshop is planned as a follow-up to a session to be organised at the WTO Public Forum on a similar topic. This means that the IGF session will also provide an opportunity to share the perspective of trade practitioners on these issues, contributing to multidisciplinary understanding of the topic. The workshop also builds upon sessions that took place during the UNCTAD e-commerce week 2022, which happened from 25-29 April 2022 under the topic ​​”Data and Digitalization for Development”.

Digital Watch (2022a) Digital self-determination – an alternative approach to data governance issues. Session report from the 2022 UNCTAD e-commerce week. Available at: https://dig.watch/events/2022-unctad-e-commerce-week/digital-self-deter…

Digital Watch (2022b) Designing innovative data solutions for the global south. Session report from the 2022 UNCTAD e-commerce week. Available at: https://dig.watch/events/2022-unctad-e-commerce-week/designing-innovati…

Hybrid Format: In order to maximise engagement, it is not sufficient to give the floor to participants during the session. It is also very important to ensure that interested participants come to the session with some questions or reflections in their minds. In order to achieve that, session organisers will use several strategies:
To put in place a communication campaign for the session. We will ask speakers to write short blog posts prior to the IGF providing some background information and raising points for reflection about the topic.
These blog posts will be shared on social media using the hashtags of IGF 2022, together with quick pools and surveys, which will help session organisers to get a sense of the opinions of interested participants.
One pre-event will be organised online one month before the IGF in order to advance some initial understanding about the policy questions. This event will also be an opportunity to raise interest from potential attendees, who will have a chance to shape the IGF workshop with their questions and comments beforehand. In this manner, the session itself will be more in tune with participants’ interests and concerns.
Finally, during the session, a skilled moderator will provide equal opportunities for participation to those onsite and online. A chat moderator will also ensure that those with limited bandwidth can fully participate, collecting written questions and sharing them with the session moderator and other participants.

Online Participation



Usage of IGF Official Tool.