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Building an M-Sec marketplace between the EU and Japan for the secure exchange of data

Building an M-Sec marketplace between the EU and Japan for the secure exchange of data

Know more about our Use Case 5, which is currently being implemented in the cities of Santander and Fujisawa to test the impact of the M-Sec solution

We have spoken with Keiko Doguchi, Japanese Coordinator of the M-Sec Project, from NTTE – Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation, leader of M-Sec’s Use Case 5: Smart City Data Marketplace With Secure Multi-Layer Technologies, to better understand how is this Use Case being implemented in the Japanese city of Fujisawa and in the Spanish city of Santander, its main achievements and challenges, and what comes next.

Can you please briefly describe M-Sec’s Use Case 5?

The aim of this use case is to construct a marketplace where data integrity is present and tamperproof data can be securely distributed with secure multi-layer technologies.

What is this Use Case trying to solve?

This use case will handle all data from other M-Sec use cases. In case personal data are included, they will be protected from falsification and be transferred in a secure environment. The system needs to be able to avoid and face attacks to the blockchain and the actual marketplace. The marketplace will be operated in a secure environment using M-Sec which will consider the security requirements of GDPR and APPI’s EU and Japanese data protection regulations.

Can you tell us in what ways the implementation of this Use Case is expected to improve people’s lives in hyper-connected smart cities?

Anyone can easily and securely trade data owned by citizens, businesses, research institutes, etc.

How is this Use Case being implemented by the M-Sec project?

Due to a significant delay in the progress of the project in a pandemic situation, the marketplace, which can trade of M-Sec’s use case data or other data, implemented and tried it in the last month of the extended project period. Trials were conducted in Fujisawa and Santander. Since we have validated the trial in Japan and Europe, we think that it is possible to duplicate at least in other cities in Japan and Europe. Mainly, we have implemented a function that allows users of Smile City Report, a participatory sensing app developed in use case 4, to use the app and sell the photos taken there on the marketplace. Smart City Report users can also use it as a starting point to purchase data traded on the marketplace.

M-Sec is also in ongoing collaboration with its Twin Project called Fed4IoT. Fed4IoT offers Virtual Silos as-a-service: isolated and secure IoT environments made of Virtual Things whose data can be accessed through standard IoT Brokers (oneM2M, NGSI, NGSI-LD, etc.). Fed4IoT Cloud of Things aspires to enable IoT application developers to simply rent and customize a Virtual Silo instead of deploying physically their IoT infrastructure. The joint collaboration between the two projects relies on connecting the Marketplace with the Fed4IoT platform. Through the M-Sec Marketplace, Virtual Silos can be enriched with available and anonymized data and information acquired by several other networks of sensors and UCs, thus making it less necessary for integrators to rely on new deployments

What major challenges has your team faced during the pilot’s implementation? Have you been able to overcome the main challenges?

This use case does not contain any personal information. But in the first place, the marketplace aims to provide a safe environment. When personal information is mixed in or when handling data including personal information, ensuring the confidentiality is an issue, and we have implemented blockchain and other security functions so that transactions can be carried out safely.

Finally, can you please tell us about future developments regarding the implementation of this Use Case?

Currently, there are no concrete plans to continue with the implementation of use case 5, but the M-Sec project is also considering a business model for the data marketplace. We have validated it in Fujisawa and Santander, so we think it is possible to duplicate this marketplace in other cities.

Know more about our Use Case 5 implementation in Fujisawa and Santander by watching our latest video


If you want to know more about M-Sec’s Use Case 5 and how you can replicate it in your own city and/or region, you can directly contact Keiko Doguchi, at [email protected].

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