The Isle of Man has created a world-first legal framework – the Data Asset Foundations – that allows data to be treated as a recognised asset in law, similar to cash, property or intellectual property.
Although many organisations describe data as their most valuable asset, without legal clarity, data cannot be owned, governed or commercialised in the same way as other assets. By setting out clear rules on who controls data, how it can be used and how value can be created from it, the new framework aims to give organisations the confidence to use data more effectively and responsibly.
New Digital Age spoke with Lyle Wraxall, CEO, and Aga Strandskov, Head of Data Strategy, at Digital Isle of Man to find out more…
What was the original thinking behind the development of the Data Asset Foundation? What problem are you trying to solve?
Lyle Wraxall (LW): It came from imagining the future of the digital economy and asking ourselves where the opportunities were going to come from next.
Digital Isle of Man exists to grow the island’s digital economy, so we started looking at how we could diversify beyond some of the sectors we’re traditionally associated with, like gaming and fintech. We realised we already had a lot of expertise around regulation, compliance and governance, and that naturally led us towards data.
Data is this incredibly valuable but also quite ethereal thing. Questions around ownership, control and governance are becoming more and more important, whether that’s personal data, someone’s likeness or voice, or the huge datasets being used to train AI models.
We started asking: how do organisations properly control and protect their data? How do they put it to work responsibly? And how do you create trust around that process?
That journey ultimately led us to what we now call the Data Asset Foundation: a legal framework designed specifically to hold and manage data as an asset.
What gaps in the current system does the framework address?
Aga Strandskov (AS): The current data economy exists without a fully developed legal infrastructure around data ownership. Data is incredibly valuable, but legally it lacks certainty as an asset.
One of the first things we had to do was define data as an asset and create a legal property right that attaches to it. That legal certainty becomes the foundation for everything else: governance, accounting, valuation, transactions and collaboration.
We also recognised that, at the moment, there is no real duty of care around data itself. Companies have obligations under data protection laws, but there isn’t a formal governance structure that treats data as a managed asset in its own right.
What we’re doing is embedding governance directly into the legal framework. That creates accountability, enforceability and confidence that data is being managed properly and to clearly defined standards.
Ultimately, we see this as part of building the institutional infrastructure for a global data economy.
Why is legal certainty such an important issue for businesses?
LW: Right now, working with data can be incredibly slow and complicated.
I’ve run large international data projects before, and even sharing data internally between countries could take years because every jurisdiction has different rules and legal interpretations. We once spent more than two years getting legal agreement simply to share data within the same organisation.
What we’re trying to do here is remove a lot of that friction up front. The framework creates clarity around ownership, governance and standards, which means organisations can collaborate more quickly and with greater confidence. It essentially does a lot of the heavy lifting in advance.
Your work feels particularly relevant to sectors like ad tech and digital marketing, where data collaboration has become increasingly important. Is that an area you see as a natural fit?
AS: Absolutely. Any industry that relies heavily on data collaboration could benefit from this type of framework.
The move away from third-party cookies has increased the importance of first-party data and trusted data-sharing environments. What we provide is an additional governance and assurance layer around those collaborations.
For example, technologies like clean rooms still operate underneath the framework itself. We’re not replacing those technologies. What we provide is the outer legal and governance structure that creates visibility, transparency and certainty around how data is being managed, accessed and used.
So this isn’t about competing with existing data infrastructure providers?
AS: No, not at all. We’re adding an additional layer of trust and governance on top of those systems. You can almost think of it as a due diligence layer.
It creates visibility around the legal position, compliance standards, governance standards and quality controls attached to the data. It also ensures that the data can only be used for the purposes defined within the framework itself.
How does the Isle of Man’s legal position enable innovation around data?
AS: The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency with its own legislature, which means we have the autonomy to create primary legislation.
At the same time, we remain closely aligned with UK legal principles. In fact, we’ve deliberately aligned parts of this framework — particularly the definition of digital assets — as closely as possible with developments happening in the UK legal system.”
LW: And importantly, this isn’t something that only Isle of Man businesses can use.
A company doesn’t need to relocate to the Isle of Man to benefit from the framework. The legal structure itself is created here, but it’s designed to support organisations globally.
We see this as a global challenge, not a local one. We just happen to be in a position as a smaller jurisdiction to move more quickly.
Which industries or organisations do you think will find this most useful?
LW: Honestly, almost any data-rich organisation. That could be technology companies, financial services firms, pharmaceutical companies, retailers, logistics businesses — really anyone sitting on large amounts of data.
For many organisations, data is both an opportunity and a risk. The compliance burden is huge, and for some executives the responsibility of managing that data is probably keeping them awake at night.
This framework helps organisations govern data more effectively, but it also allows them to put it to work. They can monetise it, collaborate more easily, or make it available for research and innovation in a properly governed way.
How important is AI to this conversation?
LW: It’s hugely important. Digital Isle of Man also runs the island’s National AI Office, so we’re very aware of the issues surrounding AI development and training data.
As AI evolves, the demand for data is only going to increase. Even with the vast amounts of data already available globally, organisations are still looking for more — including anonymised and synthetic data that can help build more predictive AI systems.
What the Data Asset Foundation does is make it easier and safer for organisations to collaborate around that data while maintaining proper governance and legal certainty.
In many ways, this is about rebuilding trust in how data is used in the AI era.
Ultimately, what do you hope this initiative achieves?
AS: One of the core objectives is to rebuild institutional trust in data.
At the moment, a lot of data-driven activity happens without a clear governance structure that travels with the asset itself. We’re trying to change that by embedding governance directly into the asset layer.
This is not necessarily the final answer for the global data economy, but we do believe it’s an important first step.
LW: The world is becoming increasingly data-driven, and organisations need better tools to manage that responsibly. What we’re trying to create is a framework that removes ambiguity, reduces risk and enables organisations to operate in a more certain environment.
Ultimately, if we can make data collaboration easier, safer and more trustworthy, that benefits everybody.
