We invite you to join us and build an international standard!

The objective of the IHAN® project is to define European-level policies and a technical platform for human-driven data exchange. If this were executed in the traditional style of Finnish engineers, technical specifications would be created by a small group of engineers without letting others disturb the important work. Completed documents featuring Sitra’s cut-outs could then be proudly distributed at seminars.

However, those of us working with IHAN are solving much more complex problems than simply technical challenges.

Our biggest challenge is to get companies and organisations to think about the data economy in a new way. Companies and organisations processing data should be required to comply with shared principles, which will also benefit them indirectly and in the long run.

Furthermore, it is important to accept the fact that the benefits obtained will increase in line with the number of actors involved. At first, the benefits are at their smallest. Therefore, getting the widest possible group of participants to engage in the activities from the start is crucial in terms of the IHAN project’s success.

The workshop will be an open process

With regard to technical specifications, we have taken the challenge seriously. In the spring, we reached out to the European regional standards organisation CEN-CENELEC in Brussels and discussed co-operation opportunities. The organisation’s tool set included an interesting workshop procedure and, with this in mind, we sent our project plan to Brussels in the summer of 2018. Last week, we received the green light to arrange an international workshop.

The workshop will be an open process in which any company or organisation can participate. The work will be led by experts from Sitra. The launch meeting will be announced on the CEN-CENELEC website. Also, the results of the approximately year-long workshop will be published on the same site. For further information on the process, please visit here.

We are excited about carrying out this international IHAN project. If you have the competence and interest to contribute to the technical implementation of the human-driven data economy, please sign up by emailing us at ihan@sitra.fi.

We will provide information on the launch, both on our website and by email, to those who are interested.

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