Data cooperatives for mobility data sharing: Increasing data dignity and privacy of citizens in Switzerland

Supervisors: David Huser, Edy Portmann

Contact person: David Huser

Student: Chaimaa Khald

Project status: Finished

Year: 2025

Project Abstract

Personal data is essential to innovation, economic expansion, and social change in the context of digital transformation, but it also raises important questions about ethics, privacy, and ownership. This thesis investigates how well digital mobility data cooperatives can use data dignity principles to create moral, open, and citizen-centered forms of data governance. To design, test, and improve a prototype digital mobility cooperative, this study uses a mixed methodology informed by the Design Science Research (DSR) framework. It includes surveys, interviews, case studies, and literature analysis. With the help of Innosuisse, the "Digital Mobility Cooperative" pilot project in Lucerne provided a field for empirical evaluation by combining elements of architecture, governance, security, privacy, and gamification techniques. The findings show that users are very interested in a cooperative model that combines democratic participation, continuous transparency, granular data control, and hybrid incentives. Significant restrictions do, however, appear, especially with regard to long-term member engagement, governance complexity, and financial viability.

Keywords: User engagement, privacy, gamification, digital cooperatives, Swiss Innosuisse project, mobility data, data governance, design science research, and data dignity

Document: report.pdf