Fraunhofer-Institut: Studie: Datenschutz macht Europa wettbewerbsfähiger

A recent study by the Fraunhofer Institute suggests that strengthening Europe's competitiveness in the digital economy does not rely on weakening data protection standards. The principle paper, developed by the "Privacy Platform" project under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for System and Innovation Research (ISI) and the University of Kassel, argues that Europe should build its economic future on privacy-friendly technologies, digital sovereignty, and trustworthy innovation.

The widespread belief that "less privacy means more innovation" is empirically unfounded, according to the authors, including Michael Friedewald from the Fraunhofer ISI and Alexander Roßnagel, Germany's Data Protection Commissioner and a professor at the University of Kassel. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not the primary cause of innovation bottlenecks, as scientific research shows that regulation did not lead to a general decline in innovations.

However, the paper identifies significant challenges: large digital corporations generally manage regulatory adjustments well, but startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle with bureaucratic overhead and legal uncertainty. To address this issue, the researchers propose tailoring obligations strictly to the actual processing risk and increasing the responsibility of standard software manufacturers.

Moreover, the principle of pure data maximization should not apply to artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven business models. For entrepreneurial success, data quality, precision, and exclusivity of training data are more crucial. Privacy, as a quality attribute "Made in Europe", could become a decisive competitive and trust advantage in sensitive areas such as healthcare, financial services, or administration.

To prevent further widening the gap with the USA and China, the "Privacy Platform" recommends the targeted promotion of data-efficient AI methods, the expansion of real labs for risk-free testing, and increased legal certainty for research. This way, compliance with fundamental rights could become an internationally recognized quality attribute for European digital technologies in the future.