“Between tweets, likes, comments, blogs, videos and images, today’s customer is estimated to generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day. How can marketers utilize the ever-increasing amount of data to better understand and interact with their customers?”
The author of the book “Humanizing Big Data”, Colin Stron, will be sharing his vision of how marketers, business heads and government bodies should analyse and deal with data. He explains how important it is to bear in mind the full complexity of human behaviour and tells us about the new fields of knowledge that are emerging such as “cyber psychology”, “computational sociology” and “cultural analytics” to put big data to good use.

With the impending implementation of the GDPR, companies, start-ups and public bodies are keen to discover the changes it will bring about in data protection rules as compared to the current situation, aware as they are of the considerable impact it will have on their business. Part of their concern stems from the fact that, with just a few months to go before the GDPR comes into effect, certain areas are not covered by the regulation or it will be up to each country to develop them.

This session will touch on some of the most relevant aspects of the GDPR and its differences compared to the current Spanish Organic Data Protection Act (LOPD) and DPR. We will be looking at the content of the new provisions which are pending approval to complete the new regulation and offering some guidelines as to how to assess the impact the GDPR will have on companies.

Who does the GDPR apply to? What new obligations will it entail? Which obligations have changed and how? What is pseudonymisation and how does it differ from anonymisation? What new rights and limitations will users have? What will change in relation to data file and video surveillance rules? When is consent considered to be a “statement or clear affirmative action”? What type of companies will need a DPO (Data Privacy Officer)? How to determine whether a data processing practice is “regular”, “systematic” and “large-scale”? What happens if the criteria for appraising those terms do not match those of the control agency? Will the security obligations set out in the DPR be abolished? What new sanctions will apply?

After learning a bit about the GDPR and its impact on organisations and public administration, the next question is how to carry out the changes that the new Regulation and Organic Data Protection Act entail.

During this session, two top experts in the field will be answering this question for both public and private companies, each with their own peculiarities, and will shed some light on the strategy they should apply to make the right changes and identify which areas will be affected, define the most suitable processes and procedures to ensure proper implementation, and decide which resources they need to carry them out.

One of the novelties that come with the GDPR is the figure of the DPO (Data Protection Officer), who is entrusted the essential role of being responsible for data processing and security, and acting as the intermediary between companies and regulators.

This session will touch on a series of gaps and issues in the new regulation from a professional point of view and will explain the competencies and professional profile needed to work as a DPO.

The regulation establishes the DPO’s position and functions, but experts feel that a statute is needed to govern their work.

There is no doubt that in the coming months, the demand for specialised professionals to cover DPO positions will rise. There are several causes for concern in the recruitment of these professionals: maret availability of qualified professionals to meet growing demand; uncertainty as to the most suitable profiles and skills needed to perform this function; questions as to their employment prospects; and which tools they should be given to do their jobs.

What obligations and responsibilities will a DPO have? What profile and qualifications will they require? What position should they hold within the company? What tools will a DPO need? Can they be outsourced? Can public administration employees work as a DPO? Should it be a freely designated post? What will their role be in administrative procedures? What is DPO accreditation and how is it applied for? What is its purpose? What kinds of accreditation are there and how do they differ? Who grants these accreditations?

Understanding the possibilities that data can offer is vital to creating new products and services, and also in decision making for organisations. Part of the digital transformation of business models stems from developing strategies that boost the ability to collect, process and query the data obtained through various sources.

The key to making that ambition come true lies in digital advertising and the potential of data processing, which can mean added value for a broad range of industries.

This session will analyse and explain the different digital business models based on data processing, contemplating how companies are facing the dual challenge of innovating with data while complying with the new privacy rules. We will be digging deep into the way this model works from three different perspectives in order to understand how our data are processed on the Internet, what we get in exchange and how the GDPR affects digital data processing.

Where does the real value lie: in the data themselves or in processing them to obtain information? How can companies get added value from data? Who owns the data? How does the data-based advertising model work? What does it mean for companies? What does it mean for users?

New information and communication technologies (Internet, social networks, mobile phones, mass data use through Big Data, connected devices and so on) open up a world of possibilities for business and growth in all financial sectors.

This session will assess how the sectors of finance, insurance, health and tourism are leveraging data to transform their business and generate new possibilities. We will also discuss how significantly the GDPR will affect their business (challenges and opportunities) and the major innovations we can expect to see in service provision in the near future.

With fintechs and insurtechs entering the scene, the traditional financial, insurance and healthcare sectors can expect to undergo a significant mutation in terms of how they perform their services. The power of fintechs lies in the use of mass data, predictive analysis, risk management and mobility, in direct conjunction with traditional banking activities.

The situation in insurance is similar: using mass data enables insurance companies to set their prices based on new, more relevant criteria.

Technology has also seen the emergence of new tools at the service of healthcare professionals and patients, helping to enable a better exchange of information and a better understanding of each health problem and how to treat it.

The hotel sector is also undergoing a digital transformation, using tools to learn more about demand so as to provide customers with bespoke services and adjust their supply to consumer needs.

How are financial institutions, insurance companies, healthcare centres and hotels changing because of mass data availability and large-scale processing power? What are the main obstacles hampering their transformation? What will their new services and products be like? Can the market take on new entries or will it require concentration? How exactly will the GDPR affect them in their business?

Compliance with the regulation on data protection is understandably a cause for concern, but we have forgotten the other purpose of the regulation, which is included in the title of this session and is the ultimate reason for its implementation: free circulation of data.

The aim of the European Union is to ensure free circulation of people and goods, and the goal of the new Regulation is to foster the free circulation of data, just as other directives and regulations do with people, goods and content. What the regulation does is establish a series of rules to ensure this can be done without compromising the holder’s rights.

This freedom of circulation means that data can be open and shared, enabling new private businesses and public services to emerge for everyone’s benefit, acting as drivers of a social transformation.

The public sector, aware of this opportunity, has launched various Open Data initiatives in an effort to foster the right conditions to reuse the information it has. As a result of this initiative, several projects have been put into motion in different areas, including healthcare and smart cities (transport, the environment, leisure and culture, etc.), which are already proving fruitful.

Meanwhile, in the private sector, new business models and very interesting projects have emerged with the opening and sharing of its duly pseudonymised data, proving that private companies are also capable of holding a productive public-private cooperation beyond their legitimate profit interests.

What are Open Data? What type of data are open and how can we ensure the privacy of personal data? What advantages do they bring for society? What types of projects are underway and in what areas? What requirements apply to take part? Are there any limitations? What plans are in store for the future? What initiatives are contemplated in the private sphere?

During this session, the people responsible for these data opening and re-use initiatives will tell attendants about the projects they are working on, both in the public sphere (smart cities, tourism, health) and in the private sphere (supporting SMEs), and will explain how to take part in order to make life better for all citizens.

Article 25 of the GDPR requires that the person in charge of data processing must, in certain circumstances, apply proactive measures towards personal data processing, one of which includes "Data protection by design". The need to keep personal data protection considerations in mind throughout the process of developing new technological products and services is not new and has already given rise to new concepts and approaches such as Privacy by Design, Privacy Engineering and Privacy Enhancing Technologies. But the best way to tackle these concepts in practical terms is still unclear owing to the difficulty of applying legal concepts to the technical world, as well as a lack of methodological and technical approaches to develop solutions that respect privacy, and uncertainty as to the degree of maturity of available technologies.

This session will deal with some of the most problematic issues in technical and regulatory terms, which will have a significant impact on businesses that are obliged to comply. Different approaches will be analysed so as to identify privacy problems and see the principles of data protection from a technical standpoint. The aim is to try and answer the following questions:

What are privacy by design technologies? How can legal principles be turned into technical measures? Are engineering processes ready to take privacy aspects on board when developing new products and services? Is the state of the art mature enough? What shortcomings are we seeing? Are engineers prepared to tackle those challenges? What incentives are there to encourage companies to adopt privacy by design practices?

Nowadays, most of the money made from data comes through advertising. This is how companies with innovative business models based on online advertising get roughly 90% of their revenue. Such high profits and the sheer complexity of the ecosystem of online advertising is what has spurred the thriving business of fraud, a problem threatening professionals whose income is largely reliant on advertising. According to a recent study by Adloox, the global cost of publicity fraud in 2017 will amount to 16.4 billion dollars.

In Latin America, the delicate balance found between data protection and transparency is surviving technological development, open government trends, data protection regulations and the need to combat corruption and asset laundering. This trend in the region could also be the recipe for balance in Europe and the USA, by converging two seemingly disparate fields.

Although a short-term solution is yet to be found, it would appear that the key lies in boosting transparency in purchase processes which, according to experts, "are made up of too many layers". In the mean time, industry, police forces, security and judicial authorities on a national and international level will have to collaborate and work together so as to minimise and discourage fraudulent behaviour.

This session will offer attendants an overall vision of the problem of fraud, as well as discussing the prevention and prosecution measures carried out by police and judicial authorities, and anticipating where the industry is heading. The session will address questions such as:

How do publicity fraudsters work? Are other fields of business affected by fraud? What can the industry do to eradicate the problem? What tools does it have and how is it progressing? What should be done when fraud occurs? Does real and effective collaboration exist between police forces and judges? What is lacking in their collaborative efforts?

The various aspects of privacy have gradually matured within the digital context, where data protection rights are gaining unprecedented significance as a guarantee of people’s dignity and the free development of their personality.
The use that personal data are put to, which must take into consideration the control that the holder is to have over their data, stirs up a public debate that calls for new answers in the face of new needs, developments and risks, i.e. the IoT, Big Data, drones, blockchain, etc.
Moreover, public powers may find new ways and means of controlling both the information itself and the people who generate it, which could ultimately violate freedom of expression.
In this new context, rights and freedoms need to be secured without preventing a series of limits from being established which are necessary to ensure good coexistence.
During this session, a Group of Experts appointed by the Spanish Ministry for Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda will be talking about the future impact of big data on people’s rights and values.

MyData is a movement that emerged in Scandinavian countries to introduce a new paradigm in data management and processing. The idea is to transform the system that personal data processing is currently run by and turn it into a human-centred system. MyData sustains that personal data are a source that people should have the right to access and fully control.
The goal of MyData is to provide people with the practical means they need to access, obtain and use sets of data that may contain personal information, such as purchases, traffic, telecommunications, medical information, financial data and online service data, and to encourage the organisations in charge of managing those data to give people control over them, beyond mere statutory requirements.
MyData represents a new approach, both in terms of infrastructure and of the way personal data are managed. Antti Jogi Poikola, one of its founders, will be delivering this master conference.

A cross-sector overview will be given of European and Spanish lines of action and initiatives that seek to encourage and fund R&D in the field of privacy and data use, both in the public and private sectors.

TYPES-PROJECT.EU intends to help individuals to understand how their privacy works in online advertising. TYPES develops tools to show who gathers the data, the value those data will generate and the value the advertising market will pay for them, as well as exploring formulas for direct use of personal data through a data broker.

It is financed by the Horizon 2020 Programme in collaboration with Eurecat, Telefónica I+D, NEC Europa LTD, Wedia Limited, the Imdea Networks Foundation, the Open University of Israel, the Carlos III University of Madrid, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, UPCOM BVBA and the Association of Internet Users.

Nicolas Kourtellis is an associate researcher on the Telefónica I+D team in Barcelona. Before that, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Web Mining Research Group for Yahoo Labs, Barcelona.
He has presented his work at several academic conferences, including ApacheCon BigData EU, the IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering on Peer-to-Peer Computing, and the International Middleware Conference.
Nicolas has a PhD in Computer Sciences and Engineering from the University of South Florida, a Masters in Computer Sciences from the University of South Florida (2008) and a Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece (2006).