by Charles Foucault-Dumas published on 04 May 2021

News

Unlike most foundations, the Migros Pioneer Fund does not accept applications but actively seeks projects with a long-term benefit to society. When and how did you spot HestiaLabs?

In spring 2019, a common acquaintance mentioned Paul-Olivier Dehaye [Ed: HestiaLabs’founder] and his activities during a conversation. I called him. We met in a park, in Zurich, and walked in the whole city, chatting. I didn’t have anything in mind. I only knew his work about Facebook-Cambridge Analytica. I explained what Migros Pioneer Fund does. He explained what he wanted to do. We tried to find an idea that we could work on together. And we found one.

After a bit more than a year through the various stages of our demanding selection and validation process, HestiaLabs was launched. The core of the project looks a lot like the concept we had imagined during our discussion in the park, but we worked hard to turn this concept into realistic planning, timing and budget.

Why did the HestiaLabs project spark your interest?

Before working for the Migros Pioneer Fund, I wrote a report on Blockchain and how it could be used to tackle the climate change issue. Blockchain is about data and data ownership and I was well aware that there are a lot of problems and a lot of things to do around data. At the Migros Pioneer Fund, we see so many projects wanting to use data to have a social impact, proposed by so many people. But very few are data scientists, developers, or engineers. They don’t have the tools nor the skills to develop their solution and spend a lot of time and money to acquire them.

So, when I read about Paul-Olivier’s work on the Cambridge Analytica scandal and when I realised this guy was living in Switzerland, I didn’t hesitate much. You don't need to investigate to see that Paul-Olivier is a skilled person doing good projects.

There are many initiatives emerging on the trendy topic of privacy and personal data, how does this one stand out?

As said, a lot of projects need the skills that HestiaLabs has. HestiaLabs will build an infrastructure and tools everyone can use but it will also help with processes and how-tos. Look at the Uber drivers. They know where they want to arrive, what they want to achieve. But they don't know how: how to act collectively; how to reach Uber; how to handle data properly... That's where HestiaLabs comes in.

Another originality is that HestiaLabs is a use case agnostic project. It will create an ecosystem of many people and organizations willing to leverage their data, individually or collectively, in many different ways. While most of the projects we see are mono use case. Which is fine. We need many. But there is a place for projects such as HestiaLabs that will build a foundation for all of these projects.

What do you expect from it?

A lot of innovative solutions with personal data that even HestiaLabs has no idea about yet. Apps, businesses, civic society services, academic breakthrough… endless possibilities! People will just use it and invent.

You have a meaningful project in mind that requires data? Submit it!

I would also like to see more competition in the digital world through HestiaLabs. Today, the “big ones” have no competitive pressure. Data is such a moat for new actors that they have no chance to compete with the few monopolies that are in place. With its data collectives, HestiaLabs changes this paradigm. By providing access to data, it closes the gap that makes it impossible for newcomers.

Interview by Charles Foucault-Dumas