‘You need to know what it is participants do and what their needs are’
In June, Erik Kohlenberg joined RINIS Foundation’s Supervisory Committee. As the head of the Information Management department at UWV (the Netherlands Employee Insurance Agency), he comes with bags of experience in the area of data sharing. In his new role, he is looking to harness this wealth of experience to RINIS’s benefit in a fast-changing technology landscape.
Why did you sign up to become a member of the Supervisory Committee? What do you find appealing in this role?
”I’ve known RINIS from the very early days. At the time I was working at the GAK, the UWV’s precursor, on data sharing projects such as helping health insurers make the transition from hard copy (paper) to electronic communications, which was when I worked very closely with RINIS. Back in the day, they were a small but highly competent organisation and I always greatly enjoyed working with them. When a former UWV committee member approached me asking if I would be interested in sitting on the Supervisory Committee, it felt like a logical step to make. I’m 57 now, with over 20 years’ management experience in IT and data sharing. I’d like to put that know-how to good use to serve RINIS.”
What are your key focus areas on the Supervisory Committee?
“My background is partly in legal, so I take a particular interest in the contract side of things. Things like how to properly formalise business relations or how to put in place clear understandings on data protection for instance.
Another focus area of mine are contacts with participants. RINIS is able to deliver substantial added value to participants by properly listening out to what they have to say. You need to know what it is participants do and what their needs are, so you can deliver a more fine-tuned response. No one participant is alike – the immigrants chain the Ministry of Justice deals with is a very different kettle of fish from the debt chain the Social Affairs and Employment Department is involved with. That said, they also have a lot of similarities. For instance, RINIS is in the processing of automating tests and I happen to know that other organisations are working on this as well. So my advice is to seek each other out, get in touch, and set up a knowledge network.
Another rather nice corollary of closer contacts with participants is that this also raises RINIS’s profile. UWV has a number of departments that work closely with RINIS, but there are also departments that do not exactly know what RINIS does. I suspect the same goes for other participants. Which is a shame really.”
Which social or technological developments do you follow up on with particular interest as a supervisor?
“Data sharing is becoming increasingly more real time nowadays. There was a time when we used to supply data in large batches, whereas these days we want it all and we want it now, fully up-to-date. This is not just the Netherlands. It same holds true across Europe. OOTS (Once-Only Technical System) is a great illustration of this development. Organisations are increasingly relying on centrally stored data whilst endeavouring to store as little data as possible themselves. Obviously this is something the GDPR stands in the way of. It would be a good thing if we stopped hosting large data systems altogether at some point. The alternative is for everyone of us to have a personal online safe containing our own personal details where we get to decide for ourselves who we share those details with. But we’re not quite there yet."
Which development do you hold out high hopes for in the short term?
"Quantum computing is one of those emerging technologies that has greatly piqued my interest. RINIS has been working on this for a while now and I believe this domain holds opportunities for the Foundation. For instance, it could help solve complex privacy issues, such as secure data sharing without either party knowing exactly which data the other party is looking for.
I know that the Justice Department has a solution in place for the exchange of detention data which involve a high privacy risk for instance, and UWV is one of several players who are keen to use that system. If someone has been sentenced to serve a custodial sentence, any benefits he or she is on need to be discontinued, but the Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) is not allowed to find out who is on which benefits whereas UWV is not allowed to become privy to any information regarding detainees. Who is able to match this? Using the latest privacy-enhancing technologies, we may be able to do more to compare datasets in observance of applicable privacy regulations. This type of technologies can help us take a secure forward step. And RINIS has the potential to assume a pioneering role in this respect.”