EU Wants To Create Single Market Of Data To Offset Big U.S. Tech Companies

The European Union (EU) wants to create a single market of data that will challenge the dominance of private companies like Amazon and Google, according to Reuters Wednesday (Jan. 29).

According to a European Commission proposal seen by Reuters, the plan could be tweaked ahead of its eventual debut. Still, it would primarily involve reining in the aforementioned big tech giants and break up their wide-reaching hold on data.

It would also allow the EU to better compete with China.

The proposal says that the fact that a small number of companies hold so much of the world’s data is a detriment to smaller businesses looking to grow in the same fields, said published reports. Because China and the U.S. are introducing innovations in data all the time, the EU sees its proposal as an urgent one.

The EU wants to capitalize on the trove of industrial and professional data in Europe and look at technological innovation, saying, “the winners of today will not necessarily be the winners of tomorrow,” Reuters reported.

By enacting new rules on cross-border use and data interoperability, the EU wants to establish a central bank of data all its own. There will be other rules on things like geospatial, the environment, meteorology, statistics and some data that companies can use for free across a proposed network.

The EU also wants new standards for a wide array of manufacturing, climate change, auto industry, healthcare, financial services, agriculture and energy needs.

The rules come alongside another recent EU initiative to establish regulations for artificial intelligence (AI). The EU wants to make sure that the quickly-developing technology can be managed, particularly in high-risk scenarios like healthcare and transport. The rules would aim at achieving a modicum of cohesion in the field, despite the protests of some claiming they could hinder AI development.

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