Findy – a visionary initiative by the public and private sectors in Finland – develops a new type of verifiable data network that strengthens Finland’s position in building digital trust
Findy – a visionary initiative by the public and private sectors in Finland – develops a new type of verifiable data network that strengthens Finland’s position in building digital trust
The Findy consortium is a broad and unique organization based on public-private collaboration in Finland that is developing a common, shared and secure network of verifiable data — a way to ensure the correctness of data in digital interactions. Findy is increasing the trust needed in digital interactions, improving private and public-sector productivity, and helping to combat the grey economy. A large-scale production network and a system open to all is foreseen to be launched during 2023.
There is huge demand for building trust among both individuals and organizations. Every day, people and organizations use various documents verified by third parties. Such documents can be used to validate broad range of data, such as a person’s name, age, professional qualifications or membership in a loyalty programme. Organizations use verified data such as organizational IDs as well as permits and representation rights related to social and healthcare and financial services. Our trust in data – as citizens and consumers – is based on the reliability of these credentials and the organizations that issue them.
The aim of the Findy cooperative is to promote an ethically, economically and socially sustainable data policy.
In the future, individuals and organizations will be able to share their data in a common, privacy-protecting manner during digital interactions
“Interactions with digital services rely today on people having to fill in various forms, but we have so far lacked common means to verify the correctness of the entered data. The fact that data concerning individuals, organizations and things has not been fully reliable has led to greater costs and inconvenience. Together, we aim to solve this challenge with the innovative Findy network for verified data, which is based on open technologies, open standards and common rulebooks,” says Juho Malmberg, Head of Development and Technologies at OP Financial Group.
During digital interactions, individuals and organisations can use the Findy network to share data with those who need it, in accordance with the MyData model and in a privacy-protecting manner. Personal identity cards, insurance certificates, loyalty cards and, for example, certificates for professional qualifications can be stored in a digital credential wallet ensuring easy use. Data verified in this way enables mutual trust between parties in digital interactions. This will significantly streamline and simplify online interaction in the future.
“Innovative and socially impactful digital services for the future can only be realised through close cooperation between private- and public-sector entities and community organisations. We feel it’s important to be involved in helping to create, facilitate and understand emerging and potentially significant opportunities for making our customers’ lives easier. By building future customer-centric capabilities for leveraging verified and trusted data, we can create whole new ways to offer service to our customers”, says Janne Pulkkinen, who heads Kela’s IT innovations unit.
“A relatively small group of centralised platforms control a large proportion of the world’s data, and the EU’s share of the data economy doesn’t correspond to its economic weight. We need to adopt a new model of data economy to provide greater opportunities for Finland and Europe. The Findy cooperative enables Finland to act as a role model for a data economy based on European values and fundamental rights. At the Findy cooperative, we want to provide an example of how the private and public sectors can work together to promote a fair and responsible data economy for the society at large,” says Markus Hautala, Chairman of the Board of the Findy consortium and Head of Innovation Centre at TietoEVRY
Findy is a non-profit joint venture between the public and private sectors
The Findy cooperative is a joint non-profit organisation established for the creation of the Findy network. Current members include Finance Finland, The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Nixu, Nordea, OP Financial Group, Posti Group, Technology Industries of Finland, TietoEVRY and Vastuu Group. The cooperative aims to promote an ethically, economically and socially sustainable data economy, increase digitalisation, and develop public-private partnerships. It operates in a transparent manner and it is open to participation by all organizations that commit to jointly agreed responsibilities and rules.
This year’s goals for Findy consortium include a launch of a test network, supporting ecosystem projects in order to increase use of the network, and a network rulebook. With these in mind, a large-scale production network and a system open to all is foreseen to be launched during 2023.