Our data traces in the Internet unknowingly create a digital double of ourselves

Ordering a book here, liking a picture there, searching for a term and listening to our current favorite song on a streaming provider in the background - we live in an age in which we leave imprints of our identity in countless places in digital space through our everyday actions. These traces of data form our digital identity are already completely inseparable from our physical identity.

However, we give our digital representation carelessly away to companies and institutions, which gain extensive control over us. As a user, this not only makes us vulnerable but also susceptible to outside influence. Bit by bit we are giving up some of our autonomy. We therefore believe that people need instruments and tools to protect the autonomy over their data - and therefore themselves.

With geminy we want to present an alternative concept. Our mission is to give the user full authority and control over his data. We do this by making the personal data usable for themselves. In the form of a digital assistant that operates on the user's own data, we want to protect, support, relieve and ultimately even represent the user. In this way we want to highlight the added value which an ecosystem can have for the individual user.

The integrated design process of our geminy products and services combined a variety of aspects from different areas: We explored the user side, tested technical possibilities and limits and defined the strategic direction and financing of our geminy company. Throughout the entire project, we were in close contact with various representatives of our direct stakeholders, from whom we formed our Team 2.0. This team consisted of representatives of our user group (children, young people, parents), IT experts (computer scientists and specialists for internet security), innovation managers and pedagogues.

We are deeply convinced that everyone has a right for digital sovereignty and self-empowerment. With our project we pursue the overall goal of making the technology of the digital me or twin accessible to the user. We also see this as an opportunity to make users aware of how powerful our personal data can be. In this way we want to create a sense of responsibility towards our digital identity.

All of this should contribute to enhancing people's digital independence so that they are given the possibility to navigate the digital space with confidence, competence and control in a self-determined manner.