FORWIT welcomes new national data strategy

With the ministerial draft of a Data Access Act (DZG), which was submitted to the National Council on 2 October and includes accompanying regulations to the EU Data Governance Act, the federal government also published its data strategy. ‘The Austrian Council for Research, Science, Innovation and Technology Development (FORWIT) welcomes the fact that the federal government has adopted a national data strategy after long delays. However, FORWIT is pushing for implementation that is based on the latest available technologies and is constantly evolving with them,’ says Thomas Henzinger, Chairman of the Council.

Kryptografie und Differential Privacy vereinbaren Datenoffenheit mit Datenschutz

In the view of the expert panel, such technologies include cryptographic processes and differential privacy methods that make it possible to reconcile data openness with the protection of privacy. This is important for sensitive information – such as health data – but applies equally to all applications that utilise large amounts of data, such as in artificial intelligence.

‘If we make data accessible effectively and responsibly, this not only promotes science and innovation, it also provides the evidence for sustainable, effective political decisions and measures,’ emphasises Henzinger.