Innovative Uses of Data

If you, as a consumer, have a preference for buying food with an “organic” label, you’ve already accepted that data is an agricultural product; the data on that label conveys a higher value than a “conventional” counterpart. What happens when we connect small farmers directly to such consumer transactions, allowing them to contribute the data that helps consumers make determinations regarding the quality, value, and impact of the fruits, fibers, grains, or other goods that they grow? What if a consumer could pick up an apple and know which farm it came from? This is the future of data as an agricultural product.

We can use today’s technologies to protect, secure, and trade health data like the valuable asset it is, turning to the finance sector’s blueprints for banks. If data is money, why aren’t we treating it that way?