26 November 2025
Bilbao Campus
The University of Deusto and Telefónica have renewed their collaboration and signed the company’s involvement in the Chair in Data Economy, an academic hub at Deusto that will serve as a centre for debate, reflection, research, teaching and outreach on the strategic value of data for society and business.
The Chair will explore the economic framework of data use—their value, their price, and their role as a factor of production—as well as legal issues relating to their ownership and the different possible uses. It will also promote access strategies based on data-sharing frameworks between organisations and foster privacy by design, with particular attention to transparency and citizen oversight. All of this will aim to define and implement strategic areas that contribute to the development of data economics in the Basque Country, connecting academic knowledge with the business sector and public administration.
“With this new Chair, we renew a shared commitment: to generate rigorous and useful knowledge that supports digital transformation through academic excellence and social responsibility,” said Juan José Etxeberria, Rector of the University of Deusto. As Javier Benito, Director of Telefónica in the Basque Country, pointed out: "The signing of this new Chair reinforces our commitment to the Basque Country and to the Telefónica Chairs Network, the largest university-business network in Spain, which has been promoting innovation and knowledge transfer for more than two decades. Data economy is a key driver of competitiveness and social well‑being, and we want this space to become a reference point for training talent, conducting research, and sharing knowledge in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data‑sharing models.”
This collaboration forms part of one of the University of Deusto’s research priorities, Digital Transformation, incorporating data economics as a cross‑cutting theme that links artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. In turn, the Chair is aligned with the Basque Government’s Innovation Beacons, designed to guide the country’s scientific and technological priorities and to drive cutting-edge projects that simultaneously strengthen both the Basque Country’s economic competitiveness and its social impact.
The Chair will coordinate applied research activities, training programmes for students and professionals, the publication of studies and case analyses, and will host open forums featuring national and international experts. Its aim is to become a leading hub in the economic, legal and technological dimensions of data, promoting an open, ethical and inclusive innovation model.
