The Data PACT project aims at analysing and fostering data culture through the development of two main activities: the creation of a database about data practices and initiatives in involved European countries and the analyse of publics and practices in a “datafied society”. These two activities will settle the basis of the H2020 proposal : coproduction of new activities with citizens and cocreation of knowledge about and with data. First we think that data culture takes plural form in different social and cultural contexts and is reflected in many practices : mediatic, routine, associative, militant, etc. Second we are convinced that a critical approach is necessary and we strongly disagree with an universalizing and homogenizing conception of data publics and practices. We advance the hypothesis that there are data cultures as a new field of scientific culture and it could be enhancing by establishing links between scientific vulgarization and media literacy. Our goal is to move beyond traditional data literacy endeavours by taking into account activities emerging in societies. Moreover, we firmly believe that, in order to go further on this topic, researchers have to cross their expertise, create new interdisciplinary methods with and for citizens and document their observations and processes. The Data PACT project has configured an academic network from 8 countries in Europe (Belgium, England, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy). Several disciplines are represented as the network will working in an interdisciplinarity way: information science, media and communication studies, computer science, design, data science, citizen science. This variety of perspectives is strengthened by different methodological approaches: data analysis, sociological inquiry, visualization techniques, living labs etc. Network members experiment and set up different actions to define, transmit and coproduce data culture: citizen workshop, educational program, data camp, analysis tools, etc. As we explore different fields, it allows us to deal with people practices and to analyze and compare their differences and similarities in regard to established new initiatives. Citizens interact, produce or engage in data-oriented activities in an everyday pace. However, we aim at identifying the different processus ways data cultures are emerging in society. We foresee mainly five fields at this phase: 1) data of everyday things and life (ordinary use of data) 2) retro-engineering (opening the black box and understanding logics of data); 3) data activism (participatory and debate with data); 4) participatory science (citizen as producer and analyst of data with the support of researchers); 5) media data and data art (the use of data from an aesthetic and artistic perspective). Our network targets "Integrating Society in Science and Innovation – An approach to co-creation" H2020. The main goal is to build documentation about practical activities to forther replication, improvement, sharing. The Data PACT project has the intention to, first, conduct a situational analysis of data culture initiatives and events in each involved country. The outcome of this phase takes the form of an opendatabase, which is conceived and configured collectively from its basic structure. In a second and larger phase, the project confronts people to their practices. It is about fostering a reflective thinking on data culture, to unveil contrasts between established practices and emerging ones. Data culture, considered as a new scientific culture, addresses problems of specifications, objectives and methods that propel everyday practices and try to formalize them in order to communicate with other initiatives. The purpose is not strictly to develop a data-driven education or evangelization of data-based methods. We rather describe and understand empirical methods that increase public engagement and encourage the dissemination of data culture.

In this project we propose to focus on the two main business models of crowdfunding platforms: loan-based crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding. Born in the wake of the global financial crisis, these platforms are seen by some as an opportunity to increase competition in the banking industry that suffers from too big to fail problems, opacity and inefficiency. At the same time, these new entrants represent problems similar to banks, such as adverse selection and agency problems. The objective of our project is to explore differences between traditional banks and crowdfunding platforms to understand under what conditions platform-based financial intermediation could improve efficiency and stability of the financial sector. The French market merits our attention for two main reasons. First, France is home to the largest crowdfunding industry in the continental Europe. Second, Bank of France has recently opened access to the French credit registry which is a rich source of data that will allow researchers in our team to address exciting research questions that cannot be investigated in larger markets, such as the UK and the US, where credit bureau data is private and closed to researchers. In the theoretical part of our project, we propose to model a loan-based crowdfunding platform and then to study the interaction between a large incumbent banks and a small platform. We assume that platforms have a better intermediation technology to solve adverse selection problems and, hence, are able to lend to riskier firms and projects than banks. Importantly, this assumption will be tested in the empirical part. We would like to understand the conditions under which the emergence of loan-based crowdfunding platforms improves the welfare of borrowers and investors and how the competition between banks and platforms impacts the interest rates that are charged to borrowers and the rates of return to investors. Furthermore, we will analyze how the regulatory framework impacts the interest rates charged to SMEs. In the empirical part of the project, we will explore how platforms and banks compete between each other and how platforms compete with each other. First, we will attempt to explore adverse selection problems faced by platforms that are likely to receive borrowers that were rejected by banks. To do so, we will model the decision of businesses to switch to online platforms. This will allow us to understand whether banks and platforms compete for the same borrowers and/or whether platforms are filling the funding gap by financing SMEs that are underserved by banks. Second, we will evaluate the intermediation technology of crowdfunding platforms by testing if they are able to relieve borrowers’ credit constraints and lead to faster firm growth and higher profitability. We will also compare interest rates and credit conditions between banks and loan-based crowdfunding platforms, while controlling for differences in business characteristics. We will also explore the interest rate formation on loan-based crowdfunding platforms with different interest rate setting mechanisms (fixed or auction) to understand which business model leads to lower interest rate. The ultimate objective of our project is to propose guidelines for the regulatory framework for new Fintech players. The first step would be to do a review of the existing regulatory practices in the OECD countries. In cooperation with the Economics Department of the OECD, Olena Havrylchyk has already created a questionnaire that has been sent to regulators in all OECD countries. Second step would be to identify ‘best practices’ for the regulation of online platforms.