BREAKTHROUGH

TECHNOLOGIES

DATA TRUSTS

Innovative business and

breakthrough technologies
ENG19CT0006
APEKSHA PRABHU
What are DATA TRUSTS?
It is a legal approach of collecting and maintaining people’s personal data on
their behalf. It is a technology framework which enables data control and
trusted interoperability of the data assets between data partners.
This platform applies to a computing system which enables data partners to
control, provide, access and exchange data while protecting them from
corruption, compromise, loss, leakage or misuse. It keeps note of who gets
access to data and what usage rights and ownership are transferred with
access. It provides a secure data access fabric - over existing infrastructure - for
the deployment of data-driven solutions or other derivative data value
creation
In the domain of illegal/technology-based frameworks of data trusts, there
are two primary streams
Centralized approach

o It has a centralized secure trusted location where the data assets are moved,
pooled, or copied
o Authority and approach to data is centralized
o Similar to a “Data-lake approach” - share all data together
 Decentralized approach
o Authority and approach to data is decentralized
o Data remains in place
o It has distributed data assets where the computations are performed
o Distributed data assets are access granted
Roles within a Data Trust Trustee:
Data Policies: This includes ownership, governance rules, regulations, policies
of the trust. Policies will define access, remuneration, ownership, and other
governance requirements.
Data Producer: This is the grantor. Data Producers create the assets within the
trust. Note that producers may also be consumers.
Data Consumer: This is the beneficiary. Data Consumers use the assets within
the trust for data analysis or other purposes.
Data Asset: Datasets, derivative datasets, analytics and/or machine learning
models are all assets. Some assets may be proprietary and never shared, and
other assets may be shared more broadly.

References:
1)https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/24/1014369/10-
breakthrough-technologies-2021/#data-trusts
2)https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5be2fb3455b02c0e43238a27/t/
5dcc52bf3e4cf60b6e143f8d/1573671616176/DataTrust_backgrounder.pdf