IVAM Executive Panel, September 2019: Can data protection slow down innovation?

For small companies and start-ups, regulations often mean that they have to invest more time and money in their implementation than they have provided for. The IVAM Microtechnology Network has asked selected members whether this also applies to the EU General Data Protection Regulation. More than two thirds of the participants in the IVAM Executive Panel survey estimate that SMEs have to spend so much time and money on implementing the GDPR that their core business might suffer as a result.

Above all, it takes an unnecessary amount of time to clarify how the directives would have to be implemented in individual companies. The legal uncertainty and outstanding national adaptations of the European regulation would lead to high research and information efforts. In addition, the regulation had made it more difficult in some cases to collect and use the data required for business.

The GDPR may prove counterproductive not only to day-to-day business, but also to innovations. The use of data-supported technologies for industry 4.0, Internet of Things and eHealth is potentially at risk as a result, according to a clear majority of the interviewed industry representatives. At the very least, more effort would be needed to examine the legal situation for the collection and use of data. But then there are certainly areas in which the restriction of big data applications through data protection regulation makes sense.

The IVAM Executive Panel is a group of selected experts and opinion leaders from industry and science.