The TRAPEZE project aims to drive a cultural shift in the protection of the European data economy by weaving trust into its very foundation and reconstructing the concepts of control, transparency, and compliance through technical and methodological, citizen-first, innovations. Driven by the needs of three distinct real-world use cases, TRAPEZE brings together over a decade worth of EU-funded research in security and privacy, as well as proprietary solutions and know-how, towards realistic and marketable solutions. We will develop technologies which: (i) empower citizens with the necessary tools and know-how to manage their security and privacy and actively contribute to the cyber resilience of the common European data space; (ii) enforce the integrity and nonrepudiation of citizens’ data usage policies and processing across data sources and controllers’ borders; (iii) dynamically acquire citizens’ consent and adjust their data policies in real time in response to their changing circumstances; (iv) protect citizens’ online communications and applications running on their personal devices against malicious agents; and (v) provide citizens, as well as other relevant stakeholders (including controllers, CERTs/CSIRTs, and data protection authorities) with a comprehensible overview of transborder data lineage and flows, as well as proof of legal compliance, even in big data environments. By relying on Linked Data and Blockchain, TRAPEZE will lead the way in putting the often-misplaced cutting-edge technologies to practical use and become a lighthouse for European and global initiatives aiming to deliver privacy-aware innovations. Finally, to ensure citizens of all groups can have an active role in the protection of their data flows, TRAPEZE will place a special emphasis on usability and co-production, involving European citizens directly in the development of its security- and privacy-enhancing technologies.

Changes in the regulation of ICT research and innovation are opening up a new scenario. It is expected that stakeholders, policy makers, and end users adapt to them as soon as possible. This, however, might be hard, especially for SMEs. PANELFIT is firmly committed to facilitating this adaptation process by producing a set of editable, open access Guidelines, validated by two data protection agencies. Once produced, they will serve as operational standards able to reduce the ethical and legal issues posed by ICT technologies while promoting innovation and market growth, enabling high-quality job creation and ensuring an adequate level of privacy and security/cybersecurity. Furthermore, we will produce a complementary set of six outcomes to 1) suggest possible concrete improvements to the current regulatory and governance framework, both at the EU and the national level, 2) create mutual learning and support tools and to promote networking among stakeholders and policy makers and 3) increase the quantity and quality of the information available to policy makers, professionals, researchers, journalists and the public. All these outcomes will be produced by a co-creation process involving policy makers, stakeholders, and end-users. They will all participate in the creation of the main outcomes of the project through a range of engagement activities that includes workshops, public consultations, encounters, surveys, etc. This will be combined with a strong communication and dissemination strategy that includes numerous activities, such as webinars, MOOC courses, public debates, a constant use of a web site and social networks and the creation of a Platform for Mutual Learning, which is meant to become the reference forum for the discussion of the issues at stake even after the end of the project. The participation in PANELFIT of the European Data Journalism Network, with an aggregated web audience of almost 70 million monthly visits will help us reach this aim.