One of the German ICT industry's first nation-wide conferences on Big Data took place in Munich on May 24. The event featured a speech from our Co-Head of the IT sector Alexander Duisberg which focused on: "Big Data - ownership issues and who else could invoke rights regarding data".
Audience feedback suggested much interest in the fact that there is no ownership of individual data under civil law and that the commercial exploitation of Big Data may largely depend on assessing and qualifying the rights of database holders, as well as developing proper contract standards.
Complex data protection challenges in dealing with multi-jurisdictional sourcing of personal data were also identified as an area of concern. The high potential for innovative business offerings based on open data from public sector sources, as well as potential anti-trust issues where Big Data is held by market participants in dominant positions were noted with interest. View the conference programme here.
Organised by the Muenchner Kreis, the conference featured some excellent presentations by high ranking industry representatives from companies such as IBM, Siemens and BMW, among others.