Set the data free
The recent data strategy published by the European Union proposes breaking up the data monopolies of the internet giants.
As we build out Europe’s leading data science and analytics business, we could not be more excited at this prospect.
Paradigm economic shifts, such as the rise of the internet, create opportunity for many, but also tend to concentrate power into the hands of a few.
Two of the most powerful companies in recent history – The East India Company and Standard Oil – were clear commercial front runners in times of great economic change and opportunity. While both deserved commercial success, the outsized commercial success they accumulated, as well as the resulting economic and political power, never stood up to scrutiny. Quite rightly, they were dismantled, and we are all better off as a result of the economic dynamism this unleashed.
Considering this historical perspective, the EU data strategy is enormously exciting.
At Fable Data, we build innovative and robust compliance, technology and commercial solutions to facilitate access to previously untapped anonymised data from within the world’s largest companies. Our data scientists then get to work unlocking the value in the data. Our company mission is help government, academia and commerce to make better economic decisions from the insights we find.
We will be watching the EU’s plans closely, and even if it opens up just 10% of the potential data in the internet giants, we know we can put that data to very good use.
We are just one of many use cases that would benefit from unlocking the internet data monopolies. If the EU is successful in its endeavours, it will spark a wave of innovation, investment and job creation. Bring it on!
Luke Kennedy, CEO, Fable Data
European Commission (2020), A European strategy for data,