Data Sovereignty and AI/Data Governance

I am not an expert in IT itself, but since I am in a position where I need to keep track of data-related policies and concepts that appear from time to time, I have looked into the keywords I was curious about.

Data Sovereignty

The question of who data actually belongs to is discussed in two senses: individual and national. The latter is what I often see in the news; it is part of digital security to ensure that AI and digital technologies do not become dependent on other countries, with the intent that data is not extracted abroad and can be controlled domestically.

On the other hand, the former is translated as Self-Sovereign Identity, which means that "individuals should be able to control their own data according to their own will without the need for intervention by others." It seems to be spreading as a way of thinking and a mechanism that allows individuals to provide personal data as needed without entrusting it to IT service providers, or so I hear.

If this were realized, security would be guaranteed, but there are technical challenges to its realization (such as compatibility with existing services and trade-offs with convenience), so it does not seem like it will be realized immediately. However, it seems that the concept is being considered in the form of national digital ID systems, so it might be a concept that should be watched.

Perhaps a good balance would be to realize something like the article on data distribution that I wrote myself before. This also serves as a lead-in to the next section, haha.

Data Spaces

There have long been initiatives and discussions to realize data-driven innovation by realizing data distribution across organizations.
Furthermore, there are "data spaces" as a mechanism for sharing data while respecting the data sovereignty of providers such as countries, organizations, and individuals.

It seems to be a concept that emerged from the European data distribution initiative Catena-X, or so I hear.

Background: AI Regulations and Data Strategies of Various Countries

I will provide a report on the considerations and implications of AI and digital trends in Europe, the US, and China, ranging from easy-to-understand, albeit slightly old, comprehensive global survey results to the latest trends.
● Survey on Overseas Trends Related to Data Strategy and Support for the Data Strategy Promotion Working Group Final Report (Summary Version)
● Survey on Overseas Trends Related to Data Strategy and Support for the Data Strategy Promotion Working Group Final Report (Detailed Version)

The composition until recently was that the US balances tech companies so they don't go too far, and China creates regulations and rules to utilize AI as a means of social control. Europe was developing regulations and rules to counter their remarkable progress in AI development. The fact that both data spaces and data sovereignty are concepts originating from the EU is due to the background of aiming for strong regulations.
But now, it feels like Europe is also trying to take proactive measures. The US policy also seems likely to change under Trump. Perhaps it is a turning point, or so I hear.

Compared to that, I feel that Japan, whether intentional or not, has been able to keep up with the world by attracting advanced AI with loose legal regulations (though this is only compared to the old IT policies that were a lap behind).

I feel that whether we can make the above function effectively and whether we can take a strong stance against overseas companies will be the litmus test, or so I hear...