ICO seeks Sandbox entrants for 2024

13 Oct 2023 01:50 PM

Organisations have until the end of this year to submit expressions of interest in entering the ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox in 2024.

If you’re part of an organisation that’s tackling complex data protection considerations as you create innovative new products and services, the ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox team wants to hear from you.

Our experts have already helped more than 20 organisations during their product development stages.

We’re looking for new participants to get in touch by 31 December 2023.

We’re passionate about helping innovators - big and small - engineer privacy into the design of their products and give their customers confidence in them as they take them to market.

“Through our Regulatory Sandbox, organisations get unique access to bespoke regulatory advice and support as they take their ideas from concept to reality. Only the most innovative proposals can be accepted.

“I’m excited to see what new technological developments are put forward for our next cohort of entries.”

- Stephen Almond, ICO Executive Director of Regulatory Risk

Why should you apply?

Working with the ICO Sandbox provides a number of benefits to your organisation, such as:

• access to ICO expertise and support;
• increased confidence in the compliance of your finished product or service;
• a better understanding of the data protection frameworks and how these affect your business;
• being seen as accountable and proactive in your approach to data protection by customers, other organisations and the ICO, leading to increased consumer trust in your organisation;
• the opportunity to inform future ICO guidance;
• supporting the UK in its ambition to be an innovative economy, and
• contributing to the development of products and services that can be shown to be of value to the public.

We have a limited number of spaces available for new participants to enter the Sandbox.

We are accepting expressions of interest under our current areas of focus:

• Biometric processing;
• Emerging technologies; or
• Exceptional innovations

We will assess expressions of interest on the basis of whether the product or service being developed is innovative and could provide a demonstrable benefit to the public. Whether you’re a start-up, SME or larger organisation, in the private, public and voluntary sectors – we'd love to hear from you.

To take advantage of this opportunity, please submit an expression of interest to applysandbox@ico.org.uk by 31 December 2023.

Further details on the Sandbox, its benefits, eligibility criteria and the application process can be found in the Guide to the Sandbox on the ICO website or by emailing the team at sandbox@ico.org.uk.

Some of our achievements so far:

• We explored data protection questions in the gambling industry’s development and trial of a Single Customer View (SCV) solution which aims to reduce incidents of gambling related harm.
• The ICO Sandbox provided support to Novartis to improve patient care during the pandemic; looking at data protection considerations such as controller/processor relationships, transparency on the use of patients’ data, consideration of automated decision-making, and the privacy implications of voice-enabled technology.
• Good With’s participation in the Sandbox has further demonstrated how much scope there is to implement data protection by design and default in a startup aiming to give young adults fairer access to financial products and services.