Foundations of Data Economics explored in a seminar

As the first snow of this winter fell and melted away, Aalto University had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Bruno Carballa Smichowski of Université Paris XIII and Groupe Chronos for a Seminar in Data Economics. The seminar was attended by a dozen of Aalto doctoral and some master’s students, and a few guests from outside of Aalto. For a week from Monday to Friday, we enjoyed every morning Bruno’s elucidative explanations on why data is very different from the other factors of production and how the resulting economy is different. The topics we covered included how data gains its value, data platforms (including platform companies and their business models), the (anti)competitive dynamics in the data economy, and some of the typical and alternative governance models for data. On the final Friday we had an open discussion on how data unions could be provided as a service, and other topics that emerged in the seminar.

The seminar continues now until the end of the year with the students writing essays on select topics. The current plan is then to arrange a small workshop on data economy, with an open CFP, in the March-April time frame. For further information, feel free to contact Prof. Pekka Nikander or Dr. Ruth Kaila.