Description: Data, if used responsibly, can address social problems and challenges for the world’s children, while offering tremendous potential for innovation. However, several complex obstacles stand in the way of better governance of children’s data. This session will consider the need for rights-based data governance for children across the three fields of education technology (EdTech), neurotechnology (NeuroTech), and financial technology (FinTech). Globally, EdTech has been at the forefront of innovations in education. Increased digitalization and advances in AI and machine learning have provided opportunities to improve educational outcomes for children, in support of SDG 4. Other innovative technologies such as NeuroTech are also increasingly being trialled in diverse settings. NeuroTech offers powerful opportunities for improving children’s health, in support of SDG 3, and optimizing education, in support of SDG 4. As part of ending poverty, SDG 1.4 requires access to appropriate economic resources, including new technologies and financial services. While children are traditionally unable to legally hold financial assets or carry out transactions without the consent of their parents, FinTech makes it possible for children to make unsupervised transactions. All of these innovative technologies have also created data-related risks, threatening children’s rights to privacy, to access information, and to freedom of thought. The rapid introduction of all these technologies into children’s lives has largely outpaced policy debates and regulatory frameworks. There can be uncertainty around the roles of the key stakeholders responsible, such as ministries of education, health, and finance, consumer protection authorities, and data protection authorities. During this session we will consider a series of examples of attempts to govern children’s data in EdTech, Neurotech and FinTech, and brainstorm a set of recommendations to improve data governance for children in relation to innovative technologies and drawing insights and conclusions for improving principles and practices around data governance generally.
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