Data Economy

PIs: Mr Sree Kumar (LKYCIC, SUTD)
Co-PIs: A/P Warren Chik (SMU)
Collaborator: Dr Ng See Kiong (NUS)
Team: Dr Teo Sin Gee (A*Star)

The data economy study focuses on how big data is being used to generate economic value. Personal data is now being collected though various means – cashcards, debit and credit cards, online transactions, and the like. This vast repository of data can have significant commercial use. For example, individuals can choose to sell data on their buying preferences, while commercial entities can trade on individual and collective profiles of buying behaviour, travel patterns, and service usage. The study will therefore attempt to define the data economy and its contours; examine how technology influences and shapes the structure of such an economy; raise issues on how individuals can monetise their personal data; identify the legal and institutional requirements to maintain a fair marketplace for the ensuing commercial transactions; and seek to understand how society will adapt and reconfigure its responses to the emerging contours of this new economic framework. A case study using transportation data obtained from the National Science Experiment and augmented with other data from the Land Transport Authority and EZ link will be used to explore some of these research questions.