The MyData Operator Award is the gold standard for ethical data intermediaries
The MyData Operator Award recognises personal data companies that have shown leadership by providing human-centric solutions that empower individuals to manage their personal data. By participating in the award process, service providers start or continue their journey towards interoperability as they search for common practices, standards, and technologies.
Previous awardees
Awarded organisations are required to demonstrate how they create agency for human-centric data control, and how the data and value flows in their ecosystems. To be considered for the award, these organisations must show how their services have the potential to interoperate with data sources, data using services, and each other.
Why apply?
Receiving a MyData Operator Award demonstrates that a business and its operations have an ethical approach to personal data that gives individuals control. The benefits for companies and organisations are numerous. As a recipient, your company or organisation will:
- stand out in the sector to both partners as well as users;
- gain an edge when bidding for contracts;
- reassure investors and funders that they are taking the right – a human-centric – approach;
- instil pride in their workforce;
- join the growing MyData Global movement of ethical personal data companies;
- get ahead of the curve on new legislation and standards;
- become a crucial part of changing the personal data market.
Become a MyData Operator
Applications for the MyData Operator Awards 2023 will open 11 January 2023.
Eligibility
To apply for the MyData Operator Award, you need to demonstrate how your company or organisation empowers individuals with the tools they need to manage their personal data. Your company or organisation must be a MyData member or have applied to become one, and you must have signed the MyData Declaration.
Participation fee
| Micro organisation | €167 |
| Small organisation | €333 |
| Medium organisation | €833 |
| Large organisation | €1667 |
| (with a 50% discount for non-profits) |
The fee covers the cost of administering the Awards. We will invoice your organisation once you begin the application process.
Application form
Before completing the form, please read the guidance notes and the Understanding MyData Operators white paper (March 2022), as we will ask you to describe your service offering using language from the white paper. For more information on the award process, including assessment of applications, please check the Terms of Reference 2022.
About the Awards
Too often, personal data makes headlines for the wrong reasons. We read about privacy scandals and the misuse of data that threatens democracy and digital rights. Increasingly, the public wants personal data companies to be ethical and transparent about their operations. Furthermore, individuals want to be in control of their data and to choose how to share it for personal and public benefit without jeopardising their data rights.
We know that not all companies and organisations ignore privacy and digital rights. More and more companies and organisations are realising the benefits of giving people control over their personal data, whilst a small group of mega companies are hitting the headlines for the opposite reason. MyData Global redresses this balance and public perception by helping ethical companies demonstrate their leadership on personal data management and sharing.
The reality for the public is that personal data management seems remote, technical, and at times incomprehensible. They are not alone. As more organisations begin to ingest, use, store, and share personal data, concerns about data protection have increased. The MyData Operator Awards recognise the best of both worlds – ensuring privacy and data protection, whilst also empowering individuals with their data. Empowering individuals means helping them access, manage, and analyse their personal data so they can make informed decisions.
The Awards focus on how personal data intermediaries – MyData Operators – manage two key issues: transparently communicating their practices and business models, and the extent to which users are the primary beneficiary of their personal data. Awardees demonstrate how their systems meet the MyData principles by empowering individuals and providing tools to help them manage their personal data. Individuals should be free to choose among personal data intermediaries, so MyData Operator services need to demonstrate how their services are interoperable with each other.