JERSEY is perfectly placed to replicate its trillion-dollar financial stewardship industry with data stewardship, but it needs to act now.
That was the message to the audience at the Digital Jersey annual review, as Rachel Harker, the organisation’s technology development consultant, introduced the findings of a working group of industry experts who last year looked into the opportunities for the Island.
Ms Harker said: ‘We are living through the data revolution. By 2025, the world will be generating 175 trillion gigabytes of data each year. It’s impossible to imagine that amount of data, but we do understand its worth because the most valuable companies in the world are digital data-driven businesses like Facebook, Amazon and Google. All businesses want to drive efficiencies and make better decisions and they can do that through data. This represents a huge opportunity for Jersey.’
The real power in data comes through sharing it. Real-life examples include the insurance industry, which loses around 10% of its revenue, or £2 billion, in the UK alone as a result of insurance fraud.
If companies could share their data safely and securely, without compromising commercial aims or personal privacy, then that could be cut significantly, Ms Harker said. She added that international food chains were also looking at ways to share data in order to reduce wastage, and that there were tremendous benefits to be gained from such an initiative in the health care sector. However, she said that, at present, there were no safe structures for data sharing.
‘This all represents a huge opportunity for Jersey,’ said Ms Harker. ‘With our internationally respected legal system and judiciary and the trusts and foundation experts who serve the financial sector, Jersey could pivot its skills and develop a data stewardship sector.’
Her words were echoed by global industry experts. John Taysom, co-founder of UK-based data privacy company Privitar, said Jersey had the perfect opportunity to develop a data stewardship ecosystem and become the Delaware of the information age.
‘Delaware is the second-smallest state in the USA, but it has 70% of the Fortune 500 companies registered there because it was first to develop a business-friendly legal environment. Artificial intelligence will be in some form of everything we do going forward, and AI needs data. We need an ethical framework for AI to work for us and, whether you or someone else does it, it will happen. Jersey has an opportunity in data trusts. The Island is big enough to be meaningful, but small enough to be manageable.’
His words were supported by Miranda Sharp, who sits on the Smart London board. She said that in London there was no one body that had all the data they needed. She said there were complex governance issues with boroughs and the Greater London Authority, but argued that Jersey had an advantage over everybody else because people could collaborate here and there was connectivity.
Tony Moretta, the chief executive of Digital Jersey, said the Island must act now.
‘It’s a huge opportunity but other jurisdictions are looking at this,’ he said. ‘We heard from world-class experts that they think Jersey has a chance to establish itself in this new market, but we have to grab that opportunity. It won’t come to us automatically.’
A trial project will be launched this year in Jersey, in which cyclists will be invited to take part in a sustainable travel data-sharing initiative. Irene McAleese, co-founder of See.Sense, will help run the project.
The ‘intelligent’ bike lights allow the sharing of anonymised sensor data. Swerving patterns, braking and even road surfaces can be monitored to identify hazardous areas and enable data-led decisions for road planning.
The lights also use the data to keep the individual cyclist safe by flashing brighter and faster, even in daylight, at moments of risk.
