Synthetic data is privacy-enhanced data similar to the original dataset, free from verbatim original dataset content. There is the question of whether, from an energy consumption and information loss point of view, it is better to use synthetic data instead of k-anonymized data. This seed grant project will result in a recommender system for such decisions (see Google Maps alternative green routes).

This project aligns with the Responsible Digital Transformations theme, and intersects with the Sustainable Prosperity theme: we explore the economic contextualization of our technical results, to understand how society perceives the trade-off between privacy and climate impact.

We innovate by combining design space exploration methods with user narratives In the age of a Data Economy, regulations are needed that guarantee data privacy and security and at the same time support a sustainable infrastructure for the data, data use and data storage. To this end, we foster a dialogue between business, governance, and software engineering that is needed to jointly find solutions.

Project team:

• Ana Oprescu, Assistant Professor FNWI
• Ans Kolk, Professor FEB
• Kristina Irion, Assistant Professor FdR