SolidLab

SolidLab Flanders supports data-driven innovation

Flanders is leading the race to set a new standard in data protection. Flanders’ Minister of Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy and Agriculture, Jo Brouns, invested EUR 14 million in SolidLab: a 4-year programme (2022-2026) to provide a major boost for the practical implementation of a technology called Solid. Three of Flanders’ leading universities are joining forces in SolidLab Flanders (UGent, KU Leuven and VUB), led by strategic research center imec.

Since February 2022, SolidLab has been the beating heart of global research into the Solid standard and how we bring Solid to the market. As such, SolidLab paves the way for the mission of Athumi — the Flemish data utility company — to allow data to flow more freely in the Flemish and European data economy, with citizens in control of their personal data.

To realize this ambition, SolidLab Flanders focuses on two important components: a technological component with six work packages and a societal component with three work packages. Check out the highlights of SolidLab 2022-2023 for a brief overview of what SolidLab uniquely contributes to the development of the Solid ecosystem.

Solid, a new standard for secure data exchange

The internet has become part of our daily life. Nevertheless, we often worry about the lack of transparency companies show when they collect our data. According to the Solid Monitor, 7 out of 10 Flemish citizens feel the same. Professor Ruben Verborgh (imec), affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is working together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, on what they call an extension of the existing internet to safeguard personal data, a technology called Solid.Modern-day companies built their own way of storing and collecting their users’ data. These ‘data silos’ where each company protects its data from others, gives them a competitive advantage in the short term, but hinders data-driven innovation. The alternative proposed by Verborgh and Berners-Lee is a decentralized way of storing data, a personal data pod. From that pod, you have the agency to let your data work for you. In return, organizations that join the ecosystem benefit from reduced data maintenance and can open up new lines of data-driven services.