Sandboxes for data

On Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the Datasphere Initiative hosted a virtual event to mark the release of its report “Sandboxes for data: creating spaces for agile solutions across borders” produced with the support of the United Kingdom’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The report kick-started the Datasphere Initiative’s work to examine the model of cross-border sandboxes for data, what they could stand for, and how they could offer workable solutions for complex data challenges.

It provides a roadmap for policymakers on how to design and initiate cross-border sandboxes for data and explores how sandboxes could help address the cross-border nature of data value chains, complementing multilateral negotiations which can be lengthy in achieving consensus. 

Policymakers and stakeholders across sectors and geographies were invited to a presentation of the report followed by a panel discussion with experts across government and the private sector. 

Participants were invited to share their own cross-sectoral innovations – from emerging intermediaries to privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and react to the challenges and opportunities sandboxes could provide in wider applications of data-flows to tackle friction and bottlenecks within sectors from trade, health, mobility, and biodiversity genomics.

The presentation of the report is available here.