What if we had control over our data? Then, in theory, we can get more insights from more companies without our data being misused by the big tech giants. Flanders shows the way.

Who checks your data? In the USA these are mainly (large) companies. In China, the state takes care of its citizens’ data, whether they want it or not. In Europe there is a different dream: the citizen is at the center. Your information, including information about your health, education or viewing habits, is your property. You can decide what you want to do with it.

Solid plan

As always, there are practical objections between this dream and reality, but the Flemish government is addressing them. The solution lies in the democratization of solid technology. We have previously written about Solid: it is a technology invented by the spiritual father of the Internet: Tim Berners Lee.

Solid is an umbrella term for specifications and standards that allow you to store (and potentially share) data from a private data vault. This safe or capsule (Ppersonal Oon-line Din a store) then contains data that is currently often owned by companies or governments. Consider your diplomas, data from your medical records or data from your fitness tracker.

Flanders is taking a leading role internationally in implementing solid technology in a way that is accessible to citizens. One of the pioneers is Ruben Verborgh, professor of decentralized web technology at Imec and Ghent University, who, not coincidentally, worked with Berners Lee. To support its ambitions, the Flemish government founded the data services company Athumi in 2023.

Since then, Flanders has been working on implementing pods through VITO, Athumi and Berners Lee’s American Inrupt. At the Veeam V-Club event for healthcare partners, professor and futurist Koen Kas outlines what could be possible in the near future using solid technology as a basis.

Package or patient?

“When you send a package with DHL, you can track it in real time,” says Kas. “But on average, a patient is not tied to a doctor for more than 8,700 hours at a time. It is not possible for a patient to be tracked worse than a package.” Kas believes that Solid technology will ensure that people receive better medical care. “If that’s what they want.” The idea is to bring together medically relevant data under the control of citizens in order to derive added value from it.

It is not possible for a patient to be tracked worse than a package.

Koen Kas, futurist

Later this year, citizens will essentially be able to create various pods. “This will be possible with just a few mouse clicks via an accessible website,” says Kas. For example, at the touch of a button you can activate a data safe with medical data or another safe tailored to your diplomas, certificates and professional experience. You can then grant access to applications that you agree are allowed to work with your data.

During the event, Kas will present an example of an application he is involved in. The vault with health data is linked to an event calendar from Uit In Vlaanderen. This way, you’ll receive relevant, tailored recommendations, such as taking part in an introductory yoga session if that suits your needs.

The futurologist sees a future in which we go one step further and decode our genome and put it in such a capsule. You can then grant the services access to your genome and receive recommendations based on it. He wouldn’t mind sending in his genome if he applied.

In any case, a capsule opens doors. Anyone who shares their data with a reliable application can receive relevant warnings before they become ill. Maybe your heart rate has increased in the last few months without you even realizing it, and your genome indicates an increased risk of this or that disease. An alarm bell may then sound and you can take preventative measures. If you want, you can monitor it at the level of a DHL package. Your sensitive medical information remains your property and you will not share it with anyone or anyone.

Cautious but optimistic

What about insurance? Kas is optimistic. “We are already seeing examples abroad of insurers offering benefits to customers who undergo screening and share this data. As always with new things, the question is how we all deal with it, but more data doesn’t have to be a negative thing.” Kas dreams of a world where enough people’s health data is monitored through high-quality services to keep us all one step ahead of diseases could be.

Of course, the Medical Pod is just one of many examples. In principle you can create a pod for anything. For example, imagine a data vault that stores all of your viewing behavior. For example, if you want, you can get VRT Max recommendations based on the series you binged on Netflix. Or how about a universal loyalty card: Link your shopping behavior online and offline in one safe, choose which stores you grant access to and receive promotions tailored to you. Or maybe you want to track your browsing behavior and share it with advertisers, but only if you get some money in return?

Simply safe

At the heart of the entire concept is that you as a citizen always decide for yourself what you share and with whom. Of course, a pod like this has to be stored somewhere. “We are currently testing with pods on Inrupt’s own servers,” says Kas. Hosting the pods doesn’t have to be expensive, but of course it’s not completely free either. “We haven’t set a price yet,” says Kas.

Data vaults promise added value for citizens, but (Belgian) companies can benefit at least as much from them. As data gets into the hands of citizens, it disappears from the exclusive archives of governments and internet giants. If your company can provide value based on viewing behavior, you need to demand this data not from Netflix and Disney, but from the users you want to provide this value to.

Of course, data does not currently flow easily into Flemish pods, but Kas is convinced that collecting data will not be that difficult. Links to external sources will be possible and users can also upload data themselves.

Integrity and trust

What does Kas do with his Solid story at a Veeam event specializing in corporate data backup? Solid promises to take the focus on personal data away from companies and donate it to citizens. Even if that’s a bit simplified: After all, someone has to host the pods.

Edwin Weijdema, Field CTO EMEA at Veeam and second speaker at the V-Club event, makes the connection between data, transparency and trust. Data must be reliable, intact and available, otherwise citizens will quickly run out of data vaults. These factors are important, especially if you trust a pod with critical data.

Above all, Veeam wants to inspire participants and make it clear that tomorrow will look different than today. If you think creatively about data, you can develop unique solutions. Solid technology can, for example, ensure that we no longer go to the hospital tomorrow because of an illness, but rather prevent it from getting to that point in advance.