Home Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) as Platform for Multi-sided Market powered by Internet-of-Things: Opportunities for New Economic & Business Model

Lead Research Organisation: University of Warwick
Department Name: WMG

Abstract

This research project aims to exploit the data available from a new generation of sensors and devices to develop new economic models. To do this we will carry out the following:

Firstly, we will build on existing research to develop a prototype home-hub that builds upon an extended domestic router capable of capturing a diverse collection of information into the home of 5 members of the project. Existing approaches to home automating have often proffered the use of home hubs as central points of control (e.g. Intel Home or Microsoft HomeOs) within their visions of a future home. However, we believe that the home hub is much more likely to arrive in the home setting in a piecemeal fashion. Consequently, we propose to adopt an evolutionary approach, to supplement the existing technologies in the home based on existing Digital Economy research in the Homework project. To supplement this quantitative data we will use ethnographic methods including technology tours, diary studies, experience sampling as well as a range of in-situ studies structured around unpacking the everday life for each artefact in the intranet of things.

Secondly, we will combine grounded theory and econometric techniques to analyse the data and build a series of theoretical models. Such models will be a simplification of the real world, but will supply testable predictions. We will analyse this data for patterns of use, an example illustrates the point. Consider the activity 'making tea'. This consists of a number of sub-activities including; putting the tea bag into the pot, filling the kettle, boiling the kettle, pouring water onto tea, allowing the tea to steep, deciding when the tea is strong enough, pouring tea into cup, adding milk, adding sugar etc. Sensors on the tea pot, kettle, milk jug, cup etc will provide quantitative data on for example, times of use, frequency of use, timings on use, proxies for distances travelled etc. Continuing with the analogy, the qualitative ethnographic data may provide context on when tea is made, who else is present, what other activities are co-incident etc. Together we will be able to develop a functional form of the activity 'making tea'.

Thirdly, we will test the theoretical models using conjoint analysis. Conjoint analysis requires the user to make choices from a series of trade-offs which in turn identifies the relative importance and sensitivities of the variables and their relationship to some monetary value (price). Returning to our previous example, this will enable us to identify which of the activities are most important to the tea-making activity to make more or less tea or different teas, operationalising the latent need for more resources. Each cluster will be operationalised into an algorithm for development into a software app.

Fourthly, the algorithms will be developed into offerings which will then be placed on the H.A.T. to 'sell back' such offerings, simulating a market system using the Dropletpay payment platform. We will use the facilities of the International Institute of Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI) within WMG, to develop a 'H.A.T.'-fest. Here, developers, investors and SMEs will create new offerings based on the commodification of the personal data set ,applying the algorithms created to embed in their offerings, thereby creating a multi-sided market for new offerings to serve the home occupant, landlord or building manager as buyers of such offerings. The structure, conduct and performance of such offerings on the market platform will be then monitored to test its sustainability.

Planned Impact

The H.A.T. project aims to bring together industry and home owners/residents as sellers and buyers on a multi-sided market home information hub platform powered by the internet-of-things. The HAT would facilitate the purchase of new offerings to help with lived lives within the home in exchange for economic currency as well as digital personal data. This will be obtained through sensors and other digital capabilities integrated with connected things, as well as yet-to-be connected things. This approach would give an understanding of how future products and technologies should be designed to play a role in value creation, and how new offerings could serve contexts of lived lives better.
The project contributes to academic impact in building research capacity in the domain of value, economic and business models. This is achieved by providing an approach to developing contextual archetypes at the point of usage of products and services and then generating new business and economic models. This research provides an unparalleled opportunity for business, sociology and economics researchers to conduct research in a live social contextual domain that will allow better insights through mixed methods and interdisciplinary activities, providing insights into actual behaviours, which have previously eluded researchers in the business domain. Academic impact on researchers would be achieved through publications, capacity building workshops and seminars through the NEMODE initiative, and realised within 2-3 years from the start of the project.
Industrial impact is achieved through the development of new UK technology businesses by identifying new opportunities available through the HAT. By creating a multi-sided market platform for the internet-of-things to generate new economic and business models, rather than merely a technology platform, businesses are created, existing industrial offerings can be made 'smart and social' which in turn will provide market leading offerings in this space. The project will also impact on UK manufacturers in helping them lead in the digital economy, manufacturing smart and connected things for global markets, creating horizontal business and economic models that integrate connectivity, content and social lives. The industrial impact also includes the creation of new offerings in the healthcare and wellbeing domain to enhance better quality of life that includes the role of the market. This impact is achieved in the last six months of the project when the platform has been deployed into 'the wild'. However, it is expected that the sustainability and impact would continue past the project duration as industry sees the viability of the propositions.
Policy impact of this project lies in informing current policies on personal data privacy and legal issues. By creating a platform for 'digital labour', we show how markets could be created from incentivising more digital visibility in return for offerings to serve lived lives. The project also impacts on future digital economy research, informing initiatives that integrate social science and economics disciplines much closer to the challenges of Digital Economy and technology-driven research. This would be realised through workshops and briefings beginning from the second year of the project and expected to continue beyond the project lifetime.
 
Description The project's most significant achievement is in developing the design principles of the HAT market and ecosystem, as well as the HAT technology itself. The HAT is a multi-sided platform that helps individuals gain control of their personal data. The HAT enables individuals to to collect, control, re-combine, contextualise and share this data in a privacy-preserving manner, with the right people, in the right situations, for the right purposes. This in itself has achieved the research project's original objective of creating a multi-sided market platform for connected services and products through a home information hub powered by the Internet-of-Things.

By the end of the project, an Alpha version of the HAT was released for testing by early adopters and the tech development community. The Alpha HAT platform consists of a database schema, a data logic layer and APIs within a trust framework that is known as the HAT personal data exchange ecosystem. A basic hyperdata browser (called RUMPEL) was also developed to be used with the HAT, to help individuals search and view their collections of personal data. RUMPEL was developed through a related research project - the EPSRC-funded Smart Me versus Smart Things: The Development of a Personal Resource Planning (PRP) System through Human Interactions with Data Enabled by the IoT.

All of the HAT technology has been made available as open source, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. (More info here: http://hubofallthings.com/alpha-hat-is-here/)

The following is a list of what was developed and created (further details of each outcome has been reported in the Common Outcomes section):

HAT Briefing papers - 5 briefing papers that detail the design principles to engineer the HAT market ecosystem and its corresponding economic and business models
HAT Database Schema - to contain and structure your personal data
HAT APIs - to exercise user managed control of your personal dat
Data plugs - to claim your personal data
HyperData Browser - to view your data
Deployment mechanism - to provisioning the personal HAT.
Documentation of technology developed
Exploitation Route The HAT briefing papers detail all the thinking that goes behind the design of the market and the ecosystem for personal data exchanges. Others may use the same principles to design platforms and markets and also to engineer new markets.
The HAT ontology and schema can be used free for others who work in the personal data space. Companies are free to build on the HAT and offer it commercially. They can also use the same ontology to hold personal data in their domains. The HAT is therefore a standard ontology for storing, flattening and exchanging personal data that can be offered by firms to their customers.
The research project's findings have built and put in place all that is necessary to create a multi-sided market for the trading and exchange of personal data. The Alpha version of the HAT and its technology has now been handed over to the HAT Foundation, a social enterprise spin-off tasked to roll-out the HAT to individual users globally and to revolutionise how individuals handle the vast amounts of personal data that we are pouring online.
The findings and outputs of the HAT project has helped inform the RCUK-funded HARRIET project (Ref: EP/L023911/1), which has developed and released the basic hyperdata browser (called RUMPEL) on an open source basis. Other developers can contribute to its development and freely use it to create their own versions of the hyperdata browser. Through RUMPEL, which is also a personal resource planning tool for individuals, HARRIET will assist individuals to better understand their household consumption behaviour and make 'smarter' decisions to plan and live better lives based on their own data stored on the HAT.
HAT research findings will also be the basis of the HAT Living Labs to be established through the £1.2m EPSRC grant (EP/N028422/1) for Control and Trust as Moderating Mechanisms in addressing Vulnerability for the Design of Business and Economic Models (ConTriVE). The HAT Living Labs (HALL) is a 'sandbox' within the HAT ecosystem with real users of HATs who have volunteered to be participate in an experimental environment where individuals and firms would exchange data and co-create innovations as well as test out business and economic models of data exchanges.
The personal data exchange ecosystem developed through the HAT project will form the basis of the ReadiPeDeX project funded by the RCUK Digital Theme's NEMODE project. The ReadiPeDeX project aims to conduct open innovation competitions to access the feasibility and evaluate the impact of Blockchain (and related technology) and cryptocurrencies on a personal data exchange ecosystem such as the HATs.
Sectors Construction

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Electronics

Energy

Healthcare

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology

Retail

Transport

URL https://hatresearch.org
 
Description 'The research project's findings and development of the HAT was taken forward by Dataswift Ltd and HAT Community Foundation, two companies spun off from the HAT project. The companies were led by a management team comprising academics and researchers who worked on the HAT project, including HAT Project PI Irene Ng and Paul Tasker, independent chair of the HAT Industrial Advisory Board. The job of globally rolling out HATs went to Dataswift, the company that deployed the open-source HAT into the cloud, while the HCF was tasked with regulating the HAT ecosystem and helping emerge a personal data market. Since the end of the research project, the technology services as well as the legal and economic model has been developed further into the HAT Microserver, a fully scalable and advanced technology that confers intellectual property rights of personal data to individuals. The HAT Microserver is already referenced globally as a best in class solution in the emerging data portability market. HCF is now a non-profit organisation promoting the use of HAT Microservers by individuals, startups, corporations, universities and government. It is the regulator of the Dataswift's personal data server (PDS) infrastructure platform and represents the community of PDS owners and industry partners (details at: www.hubofallthings.com). Following a £1.8 million seed funding raise in August 2019, Dataswift has completed a pilot in Brazil using PDS infrastructure to increase micro lending. The PDS infrastructure is also used to do mass coordination campaign for weight loss in Malaysia and about to start pilots in Vietnam.
First Year Of Impact 2015
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism
Impact Types Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description Beyond Control: The Need for Broader Data Ownership Rights: Briefing Note to Government
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
URL https://medium.com/@irene.cl.ng/beyond-control-the-need-for-broader-data-ownership-rights-d3eba688e9...
 
Description Giving Economic Power of Personal Data Back to Citizens: A briefing note to government
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description Dynamic, Real time, On-demand Personalisation for Scaling (DROPS)
Amount £1,200,000 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/R033838/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2018 
End 06/2020
 
Description New Economic Models in the Digital Economy (NEMODE) call: Cryptocurrencies, the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies
Amount £22,000 (GBP)
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2015 
End 06/2016
 
Description RCUK Digital Economy Theme: Research in the Wild - Internet of Things 2013
Amount £485,000 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/L023911/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2014 
End 03/2016
 
Description Trust, Identity, Privacy & Security in the Digital Economy (Digital Economy TIPS)
Amount £1,200,000 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/N028422/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2016 
End 05/2018
 
Title Data Management Platform 
Description The Dataswift One platform was devised to provide the tools that companies use to quickly build and maintain fully compliant data storage and use practices around self-sovereign data. The platform represents foundational micro- services that support Dataswift Vault deployment, the management of access controls to data flows, provide ecosystem-level analytics data, verify exchanges and quickly, accurately and securely sends and receives data between parties. The platform preserves audit logs of the contracts between Data Account owners and Data Account-enabled applications. 
IP Reference GB2009099.9 
Protection Patent / Patent application
Year Protection Granted 2022
Licensed Yes
Impact Commercialisation of patent by Dataswift Ltd.
 
Title Documentation of technology developed 
Description The HAT and its personal data ecosystem designed to allow individual HAT Users to collect, contextualise and exchange their personal data and the APIs are described in the documentation, which also detail how such HAT functionality is achieved. This includes the HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) which is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact This documentation is for the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Title HAT APIs 
Description HAT APIs were built to exercise user managed control of the individual's personal data using the HAT Platform. The APIs for the HAT schema can be used by web, mobile and other clients to interact with the HAT, allowing the user to control their data and applications benefit from it. They work with the HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) which is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/).Future schema (beyond beta) will be released under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The HAT APIs form part of the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Title HAT Data Plugs 
Description HAT Data Plugs are an initial set of tools to be used to retrieve individual's data from data sources into their HAT (facebook, calendar, location, dropbox photos). They work with the HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) which is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/).Future schema (beyond beta) will be released under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The HAT Data Plugs form part of the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Title HAT Database Schema 
Description The data schema allows for storing of any individual's data from any source without losing the structure specific to the source. At the same time, it allows individuals to relate their data to the context of their personal life and provide a common semantic structure for third parties to use such data. The HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/).Future schema (beyond beta will be released under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The HAT Database Schema forms part of the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Title HAT Deployment Mechanism 
Description The HAT Deployment Mechanism is a mechanism to deploy, run and control individual HATs in a cloud environment, built in a microservice fashion to help any organisation to become a HAT Platform Provider. It works with the HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) which is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/).Future schema (beyond beta) will be released under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2016 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The HAT Deployment Mechanism forms part of the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Title HAT Hyperdata Browser 
Description The HAT HyperData Browser is a - 'browser' of how data is linked to other data in other places and a way to view the linkages and clusters of data. It works with the HAT Database schema (currently at alpha stage) which is issued under the Creative Commons AttributionNoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/).Future schema (beyond beta) will be released under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The HAT Hyperdata Browser forms part of the technology behind the Hub-of-all-Things (HAT) that allows individuals to flatten, contextualise, bundle and exchange all types of personal data. All this tech exist within a trust framework of a personal data exchange ecosystem, hence allowing permitted exchange of personal data with other individuals or HAT-enabled organisations. These have been released to the wider public and made freely available, to reflect the nature of the project's public funding. 
URL https://github.com/Hub-of-all-Things
 
Company Name Dataswyft 
Description Dataswyft operates The Hub of All Things , an online platform that allows users to organise, control and exchange their personal data within private digital accounts. 
Year Established 2015 
Impact £3.9m of investment has been raised to date (Jan 2021j and employing 34 staff.
Website http://www.hatdex.org
 
Company Name Hat Community Foundation 
Description The HAT Community Foundation regulates personal data transactions across an ecosystem of Personal Data Accounts (PDA) based on the principles of the "Hub-of-All-Things" and the HAT Microserver, treating personal data as a new asset class and enabling private AI for the benefit of individuals, merchants, and society. 
Year Established 2015 
Impact The company has just been set up on Dec 31, 2015 and is unable to report any notable impacts as yet.
Website http://www.hatcommunity.org
 
Description 1st Service Systems Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The HAT Project inspired and part-funded the the 1st Service Systems Forum (SSF2015) on Service Research in the Personal Data Economy, held in Venice Italy from May 26-27. The SSF2015 was held as a forum for the exchange of ideas between service researchers and practitioners on the latest technologies, methodologies and case studies. It also featured a Practitioners' Forum, a half-day session with key practitioners to discuss integration of knowledge to inform practice. HAT Project Lead Irene Ng presented a Keynote Address on Personal Data as an Amplification of Human Capability on the HAT. The event saw the participation of 20 service researchers and industry practitioners who engaged in interesting discussions about the personal data economy and their role in it. The success of SSF2015 has inspired the organisation of the 2nd Service Systems Forum in June 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/business_transformation/ssg/ssgabout/sswmgactivities/...
 
Description A Chinese government-backed fund is investing in a "decentralised data economy" in Europe - article in NS Tech 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact An article on investments coming into personal data start-ups including HAT Data Exchange, the start-up that was the spin-off from the HAT project. The article appeared on NS Tech, a new division of the New Statesman. Its readership comprises of technology leaders, including c-level IT decision-makers, heads of IT and technical IT professionals, all drawn from medium and enterprise-sized companies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://tech.newstatesman.com/business/a-chinese-government-backed-fund-is-investing-in-a-decentrali...
 
Description All the web's 'read next' algorithms suck. It's time to upgrade - article in the WIRED World in 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Article by Natalia Kucirkova on how systems controlled by individuals and not corporations, like the Hub of all Things (HAT), can help everyone find what they should be reading next
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-decentralised-data-will-make-better-reading-recommendations
 
Description Article in WIRED in 2019 issue: Decentralised AI has the potential to upend the online economy 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact An article in WIRED magazine's annual issue that looks at how analysing big data on the edge will outclass offerings by more cumbersome centralised systems
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.wired.co.uk/article/decentralised-artificial-intelligence
 
Description BBC News article: Meet the data guardians taking on the tech giants 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article in the BBC about whether people care enough to bother about your personal data, featuring project PI Irene Ng speaking on the HAT and how data ownership rights.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47027072
 
Description Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy (CADE) 2017 (Venice, Italy) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The CADE Forum 2017 was an exclusive three-day forum held in Venice, Italy, bringing together academic and practitioner speakers to educate and to discuss the state of the art with PhD students, early career researchers and practitioners working within the digital economy. This year saw CADE enter its fourth year, following three successful years during which CADE grew from a predominately Western European forum to a European conference welcoming participants from Eastern Europe. In 2017, CADE Forum became a global event, with applicants from the USA and Australia, highlighting the increased importance of the digital economy and the Forum's relevance and popularity. This year, CADE also merged with WMG's Service Systems Forum to become a single event, tackling the topic of Smart Service Systems, Digital Innovation, Privacy and Trust.
During CADE 2017, internationally-recognised thought leaders from a variety of subjects including Marketing, Service Management, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management and Computer Science shared their thoughts and latest research about the digital economy. The CADE Forum aims to discuss the current state of the art in the digital economy, with a focus not just on presenting the latest research, but also on opening up avenues for future research with a lengthy discussion session following the presentations. This year was no exception, with thought leaders presenting various cutting-edge research topics whilst simultaneously addressing a number of increasingly important issues that left open the possibility for future research.
As well as the keynotes, for the first time in CADE's history this year saw the inclusion of parallel sessions, which gave participants the opportunity to present and then discuss their own research. With the format of CADE placing emphasis on discussion, participants were given up to 15 minutes each to present their research, followed by a short discussion. With topics ranging from the future of blockchain, to participation styles of young people in virtual worlds, these presentations provided a broad and thought-provoking insight into the type of research being conducted in the digital economy. Awards were also offered for best paper (overall), most relevant to practice and unique methodological approach.
Much discussion also took place during CADE 2017's panel session, which saw the Forum's keynote speakers and scientific committee take open questions from participants. The first question drove a long discussion around the future of digital economy research and teaching. This question asked broadly: what needs to be done to advance digital economy research across disciplines, how can we encourage multidisciplinary work within the digital economy and how do we teach the additional knowledge created within said research. Interestingly, whilst the question's focus was on the first two areas, it was the teaching component that received considerable attention. The keynote speakers suggested different approaches, including interactive lectures, lectures from industry on best practice within the digital economy given that industry is seemingly ahead of academia in the digital economy at present (a gap that the Forum agreed needs closing), and creating a more comprehensive extra-curricular reading list which would subsequently be tested in class to ensure the reading is being completed. However, in view of the exponential amount of new knowledge coming into the world through ground-breaking research that needs to be learned and absorbed by students, imparting this effectively remains a considerable challenge for academia, and it is one that the Forum's panel put forth to the participants to solve, as they will be the ones teaching the research in the years to come.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/business_transformation/ssg/ssgabout/sswmgactivities/cade...
 
Description Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy (CADE) 2018 (Venice, Italy) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The 5th Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy (CADE) Forum was an exclusive three-day event, bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges of the digital economy and present the latest cutting edge research. This year saw the CADE Forum enter its fifth year, and specifically, it focused on personal data, smart service systems and digital transformation. CADE's core objective is to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and to continue building a platform for the development of a common language for digital economy research. The Forum has already built a reputation for creating new synergies between research groups both at Warwick and other institutions, and emphasis will continue to be placed on this as well as developing collaborative opportunities between participants at CADE. At CADE, emphasis was placed on discussion and collaboration, with plenty of time allocated to both your presentation, the subsequent discussion and additional time between parallel sessions and workshops for further in depth discussions with other participants. For the first time in 2018, the CADE Forum ran four workshops related to the personal data economy: Product Design in the Personal Data Economy; Student Experience and Teaching; Data-Driven Business Models; and Behavioural Visibility in Data (BeVID)- Experiencing New Research Methods with Reality Mining.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/business_transformation/ssg/ssgabout/sswmgactivities/cade...
 
Description Data Needs to Be More Personal in the 21st Century - Inc Magazine article 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact HAT featured in an article on Inc magazine's website about how consumers want more data privacy and how that's a big opportunity for entrepreneurs
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.inc.com/drew-hendricks/data-needs-to-be-more-personal-in-the-21st-century.html
 
Description Data ownership, rights and controls: Reaching a common understanding - Discussions at a British Academy, Royal Society and techUK seminar on 3 October 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Participation at discussions at a British Academy, Royal Society and techUK seminar on 3 October 2018 which provided an opportunity to explore and understand the concept, value and limitations of the idea of 'data ownership'. It considered the sound bases from which to consider and probe the concept of data ownership and discussed issues relating to the ability to exert rights and control over data use. The dialogue was a follow-up to a British Academy and Royal Society seminar on 16 October 2017 that focused on data governance, resulting in a report Data management and use: Governance in the 21st Century.
This year's seminar led to the production of a report entitled Data ownership, rights and controls: Reaching a common understanding.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/data-ownership-rights-and-controls-reaching-common-understanding
 
Description FT podcast: Irene Ng on redistributing the economic power of data 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An interview on the FT with project PI Irene Ng on redistributing the economic power of data
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description From GDPR to blockchain, we're getting more power over our data - The WIRED World in 2018 article 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Article authored by project PI Professor Irene Ng on private data accounts hosted by data stores like the Hub of All Things (HAT) may be the first step towards the internet as a civil society, paving the way for a governing system where digital citizens, in the form of their private micro-server data account, do not merely have to depend on legislation to champion their private rights, but also have the economic power to enforce them as well.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.wired.co.uk/article/gdpr-personal-data-private-data-accounts
 
Description HAT Industrial Advisory Board 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The HAT Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) was set up to provide industry expertise to oversee the development and direction of the HAT project. The IAB, which comprised representatives from industries including IT, manufacturing and SMEs, met regularly to provide feedback on the project and critically appraise the methods, experimental design, piloting concepts and testing of the HAT platform. The IAB resulted in the formation of two start-ups: Enable iD and Noggin Asia, who are the first two HAT Platform Providers and the HAT's commercial partners supporting the HAT roll-out in 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
URL https://hatresearch.org/people/industry-advisory-board/
 
Description HAT Luncheons 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Several HAT luncheons were held and hosted by HAT project PI Irene Ng at her personal home in Cambridgeshire, which served as the HAT Demonstrator House. They provided an opportunity for HAT industrial partners and potential partners to step away from their hectic day-to-day lives and be immersed in an environment of a socially smart home, and experience the design of a home space whose focal point is meaningful living aided by data and technology.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://hatresearch.org/archive/join-the-hat-revolution/events-2-2/hat-luncheons/
 
Description HAT Meetups 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Following on the Mad Hatters' Tea Party events, regular HAT Meetups were also held to bring together developers, firms, start-ups and researchers to share ideas and compare notes on what everyone is doing on the HAT.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
 
Description HAT Track at 5th Naples Forum on Service 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The HAT parallel session on Digitization and Datafication of Services took a data-driven perspective of Service Science, Service-Dominant Logic, and Network Theory in order to better explore the implications, challenges and direction of further digitization among services. It was a track of the 5th Naples Forum on Service, held in Sorrento, Italy on June 6-9, 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description HAT as one of five ground-breaking tech projects being worked on at UWE Bristol - techspark.co 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Hub of all Things featured as one of five ground-breaking tech projects being worked on at UWE Bristol
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://techspark.co/guest-blog-5-ground-breaking-tech-projects-worked-uwe-bristol/
 
Description HAT website/blogsite 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The HAT website was set up at the onset of the HAT project in late 2013 to provide a channel to communicate with researchers, policymakers and industry practitioners as well as the general public on the progress of the HAT project as well as a blogsite and forum site to facilitate debate on all the important stuff that this project looked at: understanding context and lived lives; new economic and business models; the future of connected things in the home; personalised products and services; data ownership and empowerment of the individual in a fully connected digital world. It generated many enquiries about interest and potential participation in the project from the target audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013,2014,2015
URL https://hatresearch.org/
 
Description Interview with Anna Maria Tremonti on Canadian national radio's "The Current" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Project PI Irene Ng was interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti of CBC Radio "The Current" on 13 April 2018 about the activities and implications of the breaches in trust that landed Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in front of Congress. The interviewe also looked at what the Hub of All Things was, and how it would change the data landscape.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://medium.com/hub-of-all-things/irene-on-how-very-little-of-our-zetabytes-of-data-is-controlled...
 
Description Let's make this the year we reclaim control of our data - The WIRED World in 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Article authored by project Co-I Jon Crowcroft on how differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, and GDPR could help consumers wrestle back control of their personal information
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.wired.co.uk/article/2018-data-privacy-control
 
Description Mad Hatters' Tea Parties 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Events called the Mad Hatters' Tea Party were held regularly throughout the project timeframe. The first event was held in London on July 17, 2014 as a brainstorming and consultation session between the HAT research team and industry on business/economic models as well as the technological issues of a multi-sided market platform for personal data. Subsequent Mad Hatters events were held in London on Nov 24, 2014 and April 17, 2015 to provide the targeted audience with updates of the project as well as to launch various HAT technologies and partnerships. Mad Hatter events were also held in Singapore on Feb 26, 2015 and the Silicon Valley in the USA on July 13, 2015 to introduce the HAT and discuss its economic model and eco-system to the audiences in those countries. In total, the events drew more than 200 participants and sparked many conversations about the HAT and the thinking about its technology and personal data and privacy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
URL https://hatresearch.org/archive/join-the-hat-revolution/events-2-2/mad-hatters-tea-parties/
 
Description Media Coverage on the HAT & HARRIET projects 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The HAT and HARRIET projects have actively engaged in media activities to create more awareness and interest about the HAT, Rumpel and their proposed eventual rollout to the general public. This has included preparing and putting out media releases at various stages of the project, participating in media interviews with various online and offline media, guest blogging about the HAT, and inviting media to HAT events. A list of 'HAT in the Media' can be found at: http://hubofallthings.com/join-the-hat-revolution/media-center/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016
URL https://hatresearch.org/media-center/
 
Description MietSpiegel article: Facebook and Google: The Data Guards Fight Back 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article in MietSpiegel on how the data guards are fighting back - German version of the BBC article entitled HAT as data guardian
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description New $66m Chinese fund to put money into Western European personal data start-ups - Article in PCR 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact An article on investments coming into personal data start-ups including HAT Data Exchange, the start-up that was the spin-off from the HAT project. The article appeared on www.pcr-online.biz, which delivers priceless trade information for the home and business computing sector. Its total average monthly readership figure across print, online, digital edition, PDF downloads, mobile and social channels tops 80,000 and is constantly growing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.pcr-online.biz/vendors/new-66m-chinese-fund-to-put-money-into-western-european-personal-...
 
Description Our personal data are precious - we must take back control - Financial Times 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Article in the Financial Times about the HAT and its role in helping individuals reclaim future personal data control
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.ft.com/content/3278e6dc-67af-11e7-9a66-93fb352ba1fe
 
Description Oxford Union talk on Decentralisation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Spoke about decentralization on the Oxford Union web series, a YouTube channel with more than a million subscribers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzk-b-B3U9I&t=2449s
 
Description Personal Data as an Asset: Design and Incentive Alignments in a Personal Data Economy 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Presentation argued that a person-controlled personal data (PPD), technologically, legally and economically architected such that the individual owns a personal micro-server and therefore have full rights to the data within, much like owning a PC or a smartphone, is potentially a route to reducing transaction costs and innovating in the personal data economy. There was good engagement through discussion and debate.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://infolawcentre.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2018/01/17/personal-data-as-an-asset-design-and-incentive-alig...
 
Description Personal data servers will help take back digital ID from big tech: WIRED article 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Wired article on personal identity: Personal data servers will help take back digital ID from big tech
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Presentation at workshop on Responsible Research and Innovation by PRISMA, Brussels, Feb 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Responsible Research innovation becomes increasingly important with the emerging technologies in the digital economy. Dr Susan Wakenshaw, a Research Fellow on the project, attended the workshop on Responsible Research and Innovation by PRISMA (http://www.rri-prisma.eu/) from 6th-7th February 2018 in Brussels. Dr Wakenshaw presented the latest development of the Hub of all Things (HAT) and discussed with participants about the implications (social, ethical, technical, economic and legal) of HAT for Responsible Service Innovation (RRI). HAT as a pilot case in the responsible reserach and innnovation network, makes substantial contribution to the development of the roadmap for RRI. HAT aims to contribute to RRI in the UK by engaging in more substantive research on RRI for the emerging digital technologies such as AR, machine learning. The presentation was well received, and a few team has already in discussion for collaboration on upcoming research bids.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Provocation paper for Royal Society: Data management and use: governance in the 21st century 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A provocation paper submitted for discussions at a British Academy and Royal Society seminar on 16 October 2017 that focused on data governance, resulting in a report Data management and use: Governance in the 21st Century that addressed the changing data landscape and recommended a principled approach to data governance, and called for stewardship of the entire data governance landscape.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/Publications/2017/Data_management_and_use_governance_in_the_...
 
Description Talk on "Let's talk about the DAMn economy" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Talk on data, attention and money economy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgpPecDxKfY
 
Description The GDPR, market disrupters and innovators: friends or foes? Article in Privacy Laws & Business UK Report, Issue 96 (March 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The HAT was featured in this article about the GDPR in a report by Privacy Laws & Business, which provides an independent privacy laws information service to many of the world's largest companies, specialist lawyers and has over 2000 clients in 53 countries. Its clients include 70% of the Global and UK top ten companies in the Financial Times lists.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.privacylaws.com/Publications/uk/
 
Description The GDPR, market disrupters and innovators: friends or foes? Article in Slaughter & May newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This article in law firm Slaughter & May's newsletter is a reprint of the article The GDPR, market disrupters and innovators: friends or foes? which appeared in Privacy Laws & Business UK Report, Issue 96 (March 2018) The HAT was featured in this article.
Slaughter & May has clients throughout the world. They range from governments to entrepreneurs, from funds to leading banks, from retailers to entertainment companies and from diversified industrial conglomerates to Premier League football clubs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.slaughterandmay.com/media/2536727/the-gdpr-market-disrupters-and-innovators-friends-or-f...
 
Description The New Data Economy - Connect-World.com 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Article by Irene Ng on the new data economy
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://connect-world.com/2017/11/30/new-data-economy/
 
Description WHY THE GDPR SIGNALS A GREATER BATTLE OVER DATA - Article in LS:N Global 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact An article written by project PI Irene Ng on how regulations such as the GDPR are just the beginning of a new power play between consumers and service providers. This was published on LS:N Global, a subscription-based insights platform that documents new consumer behaviour and key industry trends to give business professionals the confidence to make informed decisions about the future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.lsnglobal.com/opinion/article/22233/why-the-gdpr-signals-a-greater-battle-over-data
 
Description What's Happening in the World of Research: Column article in Business Leader by Professor Glenn Parry 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact In this article for Business Leader magazine, CONTRIVE CO-I Professor Glenn Parry talks about his research on business model innovation through the Internet of Things, and the privacy concern it raises. This includes his work on the HAT and data-sharing, as well as assessing perceived individual vulnerability towards sharing personal data. According to its website, Business Leader magazine readers are high-growth SMES and ambitious scale-up businesses that are fuelling growth across the UK. The magazine has a total readership of 87k senior decision makers in businesses across the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.businessleader.co.uk/whats-happening-world-research/42672/
 
Description Why I Believe We Should Own Our Own Data - The Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact An excerpt from a 2017 Financial Times article on personal data featuring the HAT appeared in The Day, a daily online newspaper for teenagers focusing on the big issues transforming the world.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://theday.co.uk/opinions/why-i-believe-we-should-own-our-own-data