Datavillage – Data Management Platform For Consumer Data

We’re reaching a point of consumer data driving business decisions. The digital revolution opened up new possibilities for human interaction. At the same time, personal data are pouring into the online space, then used by businesses.

This creates room for ethically questionable conduct. Images. Conversations. Health or financial information. No data can be private. What’s best for users may not always be in the interests of those who keep people’s data. And thus people start distrusting organizations that gather personal information. What is the solution to this?

One possible solution is to introduce the digital twin technology. This would allow users to decide which data they share. This they do with simple consent forms, ensuring ethical data management. 

Enter Datavillage, a data management platform for ethical consumer data processing.

Data Management For Ethical Consumer Data

Unlock the value of personal data by giving people back control. This Datavillage’s tagline defines the core values of the young startup. 

Frederic Lebeau and Quentin Felice founded Datavillage in 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. Thus Datavillage joined a movement for sustainable and fair digital society for everyone. 

They believe that giving the users the control over their data is key. Data management thus places the data subjects (users) at the center. That way, users get a comprehensive view of how their personal data is used and by whom. From mere data subjects, users become data owners. They get to choose to provide or not provide access to their personal data to businesses.

In the words of Mr. Lebeau, they believe in “a smooth transition between today’s and tomorrow’s world.” On one hand, they want users to “retain ownership of their privacy“. On the other, they wish to help organizations “provide the next generation of services and products“.

On January 25th 2021, in their Seed round, they secured €1.000.000 in equity and grants. This allowed them to further develop their “digital twin” data privacy technology.

Digital Twin For Consumer Data Management

So, how does the “digital twin” technology work?

Digital twin is a virtual representation of a person using the data they produce online. Through interactions on social media and other platforms, users leave their digital footprint. These footprints contain personal data. Usually, these data are collected by companies and stored in their own databases. Thus, the user is left with little control over who is collecting their data and for what purpose. 

That’s where the digital twin technology (and Datavillage) comes in. Datavillage creates a digital twin of each consumer. Then, Datavillage gives users their own data storage. It’s called personal data store (PDS) that consumers themselves manage. Consumers can then choose to grant companies access to their data. Still, the consumer retains control of their data and always holds the key to their PDS.

The question is, why would companies accept this model?

As Mr. Lebeau claims, “regulations on data privacy and personal data” are emerging. And the challenges that organization face in this transformation are “trust, transparency, simplicity”. Also, companies have to avoid “consent fatigue” from their users. 

By being data responsible, a company signals “trust” and “transparency” to their users. A company lets its users know they value their users’ privacy. And their personal data. 

Also, you can reward users for their trust with custom experiences based on their data.

Partnerships And Awards

Datavillage is a part of STADIEM, a cross-border mediatech support framework. They partnered with RTBF (Radio Télévision Belge Francophone). Datavillage also partnered with VRT (Vlaamse Radio En Televisieemroep). 

Aside from this, Datavillage also got some sweet awards. One of them was “Geochallenge” by Digital Wallonia. This they did by their use case of improving employees’ mobility. That was the first step. And in the second step, they did that for all citizens of Wallonia. They based this on legally compliant and transparent data processing. They combined this with open data from the Géoportail de la Wallonie. 

Summing Up 

Datavillage proves that consumer data can be used in an ethical and transparent way. Their data management platform sets the standard up for everyone.

What more can we say? Other than that we’re happy to have them in the .ME family.