The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (FMRTS) launched the Privacy Platform in 2021. It brings together and connects research projects addressing issues of privacy, data protection, and self-determination in the digital world, and continues the work that began in 2014 as part of the Privacy Forum. The PlatformPrivatheit2 project will assume responsibility for the scientific and communicative coordination of the projects funded by the FMRTS for the funding period from January 2026 to December 2030. A central element of the project is the continuation and expansion of the “Privacy Platform” as a long-established forum (originally known as the “Privacy Forum”) for the presentation and discussion of scientific ideas and findings. The goal is to strengthen professional exchange, raise the profile of research findings, and promote dialogue between academia, politics, business, and civil society.

The “Scientific Coordination and Moderation of the ‘Privacy Platform’ 2.0” is a key component of the FMRTS’s funding activities in the thematic area “Life in the Digital World” aimed at further developing the “Privacy Platform.” It brings together a large portion of the interdisciplinary and non-technology-focused research projects in this funding area.

The basis for the current funding line is the funding guideline “Privacy Platform – IT Security Protects Privacy and Supports Democracy”, published on December 30, 2022, as part of the German federal government’s research framework program “Digital. Secure. Sovereign.” The duration of PlatformPrivacy2 is aligned with the duration of the most recently approved research projects, thereby ensuring their scientific support and networking until completion.

Key elements of the scientific coordination activities include establishing and facilitating a forum for scientific exchange among the funded projects, with the scientific community, and with the public.

This includes:

• raising public awareness of privacy issues to enable a self-determined life in digital worlds,
• proposing ideas for the future design of the digital world that take data protection and privacy into account,
• supporting policymakers on related research questions, as well as providing a foundation for further research on privacy protection,
• identifying and evaluating topics so that additional urgent research projects can be initiated in the short term, the results of which can then be used to make it easier to develop services and products that meet data protection requirements and to communicate these features more effectively.

Our project partner is the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe.

Further information can be found on the Privacy Platform website and on the FMRTS website.

Funding:
Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space

Duration:
January 2026 - December 2030

Project leader:
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Christian Geminn

Spokesperson for the Plattform Privatheit:
Prof. Dr. Alexander Roßnagel

Staff:
Luisa Schmied