As we move into 2026, one thing stands out about the year that just closed. 2025 was the year when we could no longer pretend that good principles alone would shape the digital future. Power moved firmly to the foreground in business, technology, and geopolitics, and anyone serious about building a fair digital society has had to start engaging with it directly.
For MyData Global, this focused much of our attention on Europe and the EU, where showdowns between big tech and the European Commission ran in parallel to increasingly powerful calls to decrease regulatory burdens for European business and grumblings about foundational European data policy like the GDPR. As work towards comprehensive EU data policy reform culminated in the middle of 2025, the increasingly explicit use of economic and technological leverage also heightened calls for European digital sovereignty and opened a space for us to advance personal data sovereignty as a foundational piece of this work.
This work is far from over. The EU policy reform process will last years, and its influence and impact on other jurisdictions and markets is hard to forecast, but will be important. As we move into 2026, we’ll take what we’ve learned about power to continue building lessons and insights and proofs of concept around the globe, supporting and promoting the contributions that our members are making to make it happen and to make it right.
Some highlights from the year:
- In February, we began our consultative process with the European Commission on how to strengthen EU data policy, leading to the Human-centric Roadmap for Europe published in May. The Roadmap, offering concrete policy and design guidance for embedding personal agency, trust, and accountability into European data governance and data space development.
- That same month, we began exploring the potential of human-centric AI with an online AI Symposium to explore how AI changes the compliance obligations and opportunities in the MyData context. This led to our call for funding partners to prototype Fiduciary AI Agents, and other collaborations that are still taking shape.
- Also in February, we deepened our engagement in Asia, leading workshops at RightsCon in Taipei, launching the Taiwanese MyData Hub, and strengthening collaboration with key members in MyData Japan, opening new channels for collaboration on rights-respecting digital infrastructure. In December, this led to the launch of a new MyData Asia initiative, led by MyData members in Korea, China, Japan, and Southeast Asian hubs.
- In May, we announced the 2024-2025 MyData Awards, highlighting the contributions of 33 individuals and 47 organisations to achieving the MyData mission in the fields of technology, business, governance and thought leadership.
- Over the summer, we strengthened our engagement with policymakers and multilateral agencies, supporting UNICEF’s advocacy on children’s rights, AI, and data governance, presenting to the Nordic-Baltic Regulatory Network on Digital Policy in Brussels, and convening the first meeting of Nordic policymakers at the Internet Governance Forum in Oslo.
- In September, the MyData Conference in Helsinki convened 500 participants from 45 countries, bringing together government, civil society, research, and industry for interactive workshops, practical work on wallets, skills data and the International Patient Summary, and strong cross-sector networking to highlight emerging leaders and lessons.
- In November, we launched the People-First Playbook with the Finnish Innovation Fund, Sitra. The Playbook provides a systems analysis of where Europe’s Digital Single Market fails to serve individual people and how it can be strengthened through holistic repair strategies.
- Throughout the year, our community has been working on updating the MyData Declaration through an extensive series of community meetings, collaborative workshops, and open consultations. This process will now culminate in the Extraordinary General Meeting being convened on Jan 22 to approve the Declaration, providing a renewed and contemporary foundation for the movement.
Underpinning all of these activities and outputs has been the tireless work of our members across regions and sectors, to advise policymakers, mobilise public demand, and build technological proofs for a better internet that puts people first. As we move into 2026, we recognise that our work is deeply shaped by the uncertainties brought by financial austerity, global security threats, blockboxed AI, unbridled populism, and a fragmented civil society. But we are clear about one thing: our mission matters now more than ever. This keeps us going, as we work with and through our members for the inevitable shift to human-centricity.
If you would like to be part of this effort, become a MyData member. Join leading thinkers, builders and visionaries from business, academia, government and advocacy, in anticipating what’s on the horizon, and how putting people first can build better lives, businesses, administrations, and societies. It’s right around the corner.