AI-Driven Data Monetization: The Other Face of Data in IoT-Based Smart and Connected Health

As the trajectory of the Internet of Things (IoT) moving at a rapid pace and with the rapid worldwide development and public embracement of wearable sensors, these days, most companies and organizations are awash in massive amounts of data. Determining how to profit from data deluge can give companies an edge in the market because data have the potential to add tremendous value to many aspects of a business. The market has already seen a level of monetization across vertical domains in the form of layering connected devices with a variety of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) choices, such as subscription plans or smart device insights. Out of this arena is evolving a 'machine economy' in which the ability to correctly monetize data rather than simply hoard it, will provide a significant advantage in a competitive digital environment. The recent advent of the technological advances in the fields of big data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) has opened new avenues of competition, where data are utilized strategically and treated as a continuously changing asset able to unleash new revenue opportunities for monetization. Such growth has made room for an onslaught of new tools, architectures, business models, platforms, and marketplaces that enable organizations to successfully monetize data. In fact, emerging business models are striving to alter the power balance between users and companies that harvest information. Start-ups and organizations are offering to sell user data to data analytics companies and other businesses. Monetizing data goes beyond just selling data. It is also possible to include steps that add value to data. Generally, organizations can monetize data by: 1) utilizing it to make better business decisions or improve processes; 2) surrounding flagship services or products with data; or 3) selling information to current or new markets. This article will address all important aspects of IoT data monetization with more focus on the healthcare industry and discuss the corresponding challenges, such as data management, scalability, regulations, interoperability, security, and privacy. In addition, it presents a holistic reference architecture for the healthcare data economy with an in-depth case study on the detection and prediction of cardiac anomalies using multiparty computation (MPC) and privacy-preserving machine learning (PPML) techniques.