Control over data
With digital technologies becoming increasingly woven into our living environments, the discussion about privacy and data ownership is becoming ever more relevant. This discussion is often conducted from an ethical perspective, while data also carries a social value. The current digital business model is usually lucrative for tech giants, but less advantageous for the majority of (local) companies, organisations and individuals. In response to this monopoly by big tech companies, the Living Lab aims to investigate new business models and technologies that are based on the principle that the residents and communities benefit from their own data.
By considering data-sharing as ‘labour’ that requires to be rewarded and compensated, we want to explore alternative economic models which enable the residents to benefit from this data-sharing process (source: Eric A. Posner & E. Glenn Weyl, Radical Markets, 2018). Data then becomes a tool which is controlled by the residents themselves, and provides a variety of services they can benefit from, in the fields of mobility, joint energy generation, retail and food production/ distribution.
The desired outcome is to increase quality of life for the inhabitants and self-sufficiency of the community as a whole, by managing the basic facilities through technological innovations. In this way we aim to create a neighbourhood that is healthy, on physical, social and environmental levels.
