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The Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT) and the School of Public Administration of Catalonia (EAPC) have organized the conference 'Challenges for research: from the the common european data spaces to the European regulation of artificial intelligence (AI)', to address the impact on data research activities of European AI regulation and data spaces.
The day was used to close the specialized training course for data protection officers (DPO) 2023 and to hand out the certificates to the students. This is a course organized by the APDCAT in collaboration with the EAPC, to provide DPOs with the appropriate knowledge to carry out their work with excellence. And it is that public authorities and organizations are obliged to appoint a data protection officer, who has the function of advising the entity in matters of data protection and supervising that the regulations are complied with.
The director of the APDCAT, Meritxell Borràs, opened the event by claiming the figure of the DPO as guarantor of the defense of the right to data protection, awareness and the management of personal data.
During his speech, Borràs asked the DPOs who took part in this year's edition that the end of this course does not represent an end point in the relationship with the Authority, but that it serves to create new spaces of relationship, discussion and improvement. In this sense, he highlighted the work of "DPD en xarxa", the first DPO learning and collaboration community in Catalonia, promoted by the APDCAT and which has been underway since this summer.
For Borràs, this is a priority project, which requires the active participation of DPO to generate knowledge, debate, collaborate and contribute experiences. Precisely, this fall the network will host the first webinars and specialized working groups to delve deeper into topical issues, such as the European Data Governance Regulation or the evaluation of the impact on human rights of AI systems .
The session had the participation of the director of the Chair of Privacy and Digital Transformation and professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Valencia, Ricard Martínez, who focused his intervention on the challenges of research with data, focusing especially on the impact that data spaces and regulations on European artificial intelligence will have.
Ricard Martínez has defended that the construction and use of data spaces to carry out public policies, research, etc. must be aligned with data protection compliance, because this will make them reliable and reusable.
Training for expertise
This is the third edition of this course and has been addressed to the DPO of 8 Catalan universities, as well as statutory or independent bodies and the public sector of the Government of the Generalitat. Previously, in 2022 the course was addressed to the local area and its public sector and in 2020, to the Administration of the Generalitat and its public sector.
The initiative is integrated into the training programs that the APDCAT develops as an entity in charge of guaranteeing the right to data protection in Catalonia, in line with its Strategic Plan.
As part of the closing of the 2023 Data Protection Officer Course, the Catalan Data Protection Authority and the School of Public Administration of Catalonia have organized the conference 'Challenges for research: of the' European Health Data Space to European Artificial Intelligence Regulation', to highlight the privacy implications of new health data spaces and the use of AI in Europe.