Embracing the potential of Big Data: The Communication on data-driven economy

“There is no separate digital economy. We have an economy that is digital”. Neelie Kroes

With the Communication COM(2014) 442 final the European Commission responded to the European Council’s Conclusions about digital economy, innovation and services and called for EU action to promote the right environment for a single market for big data and cloud computing.

The Commission’s Action plan to bring about the data-driven economy of the future focuses on the following aspects:

a) community building (a European public-private partnership on data, an open data incubator, etc.);

b) developing framework conditions (fostering Open Data policies, enabling infrastructure for a data-driven economy such as cloud computing, 5G, and Internet of Things, etc.)

c) regulatory issues

In particular, the Commission proposes specific actions for the following legal issues:

– personal data protection and consumer protection;

– data mining

– security

– ownership/transfer of data.

The Commission will further consult with Parliament, Council, Member States and all relevant stakeholders to draw up a more detailed, multi-layered and evidence-based action plan for advancing towards the data-driven economy of the future and addressing Europe’s future societal challenges.

See also the Staff Working Document accompanying the Communication on data-driven economy