SolidLab Flanders

Technology/media adoption and use

Governance models

User experience & interfacing

User requirements

Take back control of your personal data. That is the ultimate ambition of the new research project in which UGent, VUB, KU Leuven and imec are joining forces. In SOLIDLab Vlaanderen, supported and financed by the Flemish government, the consortium will investigate how the use of personal data pods can be facilitated. These personal data pods are grounded in the idea that with enough information presented in the right way, users can overcome barriers in managing their personal data that are structural and systemic in nature (the logic of ‘privacy self-management’). Personal data pods are also a key technical component in Solid; they allow an individual to control his or her own data in an individual ‘data safe’. Companies can then access a person’s data, with permission, through a secure link for a specific task. SolidLab Vlaanderen wants to make Flanders an international leading innovator in the domain of personal data pods and their societal and economic valorization.

We at imec-mict-UGent are proud to participate in SolidLab, and we will lead three work packages in the project. First, mict research will measure the ‘Solid Readiness’ and gain insights in privacy expectations and user adoption. Second, mict will map stakeholders, draw governance models and co-develop business models. Third, mict will look into the user experience and interface prototyping of personal data pods.

Partners: imec research groups from UGent (Law & Technology, IDLab & mict), VUB (SMIT) and KU Leuven (Citip, Distrinet & Cosic).

Duration: February 2022 – February 2026

Contact: Prof. Lieven De Marez & dr. Peter Mechant