Report on the Kickoff Event “Data and Law in Industry 4.0”
The evening event, organized on November 7, 2018, by the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Siegen in cooperation with the Institute for Media and Communications Law (IMKR), marked the kickoff of a series of information events specifically aimed at management and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, students, and other guests. As part of the “Mittelstand-Digital” funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the Competence Center supports small and medium-sized enterprises in South Westphalia, the Ruhr region, and beyond in their digital transformation. Through these funding initiatives, the BMWi is advancing digitalization and providing information on potential opportunities and challenges. The Competence Center’s services – which include legal advice – are free of charge and vendor-neutral. The team demonstrates to companies, for example, various assistance systems and the possibilities offered by new digital technologies. It also provides companies with concrete solution proposals regarding employee-friendly IT systems and concepts for digitalization projects.
Following a welcome and brief introduction to the project by Sonja Riedel, the Competence Center’s press and public relations spokesperson, three keynote presentations were given on selected aspects of the information offerings in the area of data and law. Prof. Dr. Maximilian Becker, assistant professor of civil law and intellectual property law and director of the IMKR, spoke on the topic “Data Economy Law – Who Owns the Data?” In his presentation, Prof. Becker first explained the fundamentals of information theory to the audience and, building on that, how data is defined. He then provided an overview of how data is classified in a legal sense and what rights to data exist under current law. Finally, he weighed the advantages and disadvantages of the various protection options available to companies.
In the second presentation of the evening, Anna-Magdalena Seufert, LL.M., a research associate working with Prof. Becker at the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center, gave an initial overview of the first six months under the GDPR in her presentation “The GDPR and SMEs – What’s New After the First Six Months?” After listing a few “changes” that had been awaited with particular concern, Seufert first referred to the previous version of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), noting that even before the GDPR took effect, Germany had already imposed strict requirements on companies to comply with data protection regulations. She then examined in greater detail the potential fines under the GDPR, the risk of cease-and-desist letters from competitors, and the requirement for consent (using examples from the fields of event photography and blogs).
The final presentation was given by Timo Jakobi, M.Sc., also a staff member at the Competence Center. He posed the question: “ISMS – can it be implemented in a lean way?” and began by explaining to the audience what the acronym ISMS stands for (Information Security Management System). He explained that the Competence Center’s stated goal is to work with companies to develop a practical and straightforward solution for their individual information security needs. He also discussed challenges that had arisen in previous projects. What is particularly interesting, he noted, is that once an ISMS has been successfully implemented, companies often realize they have achieved more than just a higher level of protection. In addition, redundant business processes are frequently identified and eliminated, thereby streamlining workflows and raising employee awareness.
