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Use case of the Data Sharing Coalition in which MPC plays a key role.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a hot topic when it comes to innovating the mobility sector. To realize the MaaS ecosystem, sharing data is essential. During the last meeting of the MaaS-Lab initiated by KNV, the attendees were updated by Petra Buitenhuis – Public Transport Groningen Drenthe – and Pepijn Groen – Data Sharing Coalition. The biggest problem that came to attention and stood out was the sharing of data between the different transport services.

Due to barriers to commercial sensitivity and data privacy, mobility providers are hesitant to share their data. Multi-party computation (MPC) can help reduce these barriers to data sharing because sensitive source data is not revealed. In this use case, our participants investigate Public Transport and Roseman Labs, in collaboration with the Data Sharing Coalition, explore the value potential of using MPC to realize MaaS.

sustainable mobility

Everyone in Groningen and Drenthe should be able to use sustainable transport, whether you live in a city, village or outside. To achieve this, the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe have commissioned Arriva Netherlands to develop a user-friendly travel service in the form of an app. For example, with a shared bicycle or shared car, the traveler receives travel advice from door to door. WMO and Hubtaxi were included in the travel service that can also be used by people in wheelchairs or the visually impaired. The provinces are working together with Public Transport Bureau Groningen Drenthe en GR Public Transport.

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In general, mobility providers are hesitant to share their data because it is an important asset to their business model and because of competition with other mobility providers.

In general, mobility providers are hesitant to share their data because it is an important asset to their business model and because of competition with other mobility providers. Think of data about preferences and travel behavior of travelers. This information is valuable to providers competing for travelers or winning tenders.

"You don't just get AVG-proof by combining different data sources. This was also experienced during the pilot and currently in the processing and analysis of the data."

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For this use case, 350 WMO travelers were selected in the pilot.

Moreover, the privacy sensitivity of data is a concern. Much relevant data contains personally identifiable information (PII) and the sharing of this data is restricted by the GDPR.

multi-part computation

MPC or Multi Part Computation can help reduce barriers to data sharing by not disclosing sensitive source data. With MPC, different organizations can gain insights from data from different sources without an individual organization revealing its source data to other organizations. 

By encrypting and fragmenting source data before and during calculations, insights can be generated across organizations in a secure way. And by encrypting and fragmenting data, the data itself is not shared, leaving the data of each individual organization hidden from other organizations involved.

"For this use case, 350 WMO travelers were selected in the pilot. Roseman Labs provided good support and set out a clear step-by-step plan."

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Public Transport must keep rural areas affordable

The value potential of MPC is being tested in a MaaS pilot in the Northern Netherlands (Groningen-Drenthe region). For this pilot, a specific segment of travelers – people who appeal to the Social Support Act (WMO) but have no additional indications – could use public transport for free to stimulate a shift in their mobility behaviour.

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From more expensive personalized offerings to affordable and convenient MaaS options. The pilot is currently underway, but due to privacy barriers to data collaboration, detailed analyzes cannot be performed at this time to support the hypotheses and understand the impact of the pilot. The insights will be shared with the members of the MaaS Lab at a later date.

Data Sharing Coalition

The Data Sharing Coalition is a cooperation initiative which aims to unlock this value by enabling organizations to easily share data across domains and sectors.

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