The Municipality of Rotterdam and Roseman Labs have been nominated for the Privacy Awards 2025. This recognition follows their win in 2024, when they won the top prize with a project focused on inclusive mobility. PONT | Data & Privacy sat down with Toon Segers, head of customer success and co-founder of Roseman Labs, to discuss the privacy conscious solution that enables the municipality of Rotterdam to better help children with developmental disabilities.
The municipality of Rotterdam is committed to reducing developmental delays among two- and three-year-old toddlers. Research shows that these disadvantages are hardly caught up in primary education. Currently more than 1200 toddlers do not participate in preschool education, while this early intervention is essential to reduce the disadvantages. The project of the municipality of Rotterdam in collaboration with Roseman Labs focuses on supporting toddlers with developmental delays through preschool education. According to Toon Segers, co-founder of Roseman Labs, the project plays a crucial role: "One in three toddlers in Rotterdam has an increased risk of developmental delay. Through early interventions, these children can have better opportunities in their future lives."
Thanks to the partnership with Roseman Labs, sensitive data sets from more than 100 day care centers can be securely linked and analyzed without revealing the raw data. Made possible by advanced encryption technology, this allows for the identification of problem areas and the development of policies that meet the needs of specific neighborhoods. "Where this process would normally take 18 months, we now get monthly insights. This allows the municipality to intervene immediately," Segers said.
The core of the approach lies in the application of Multi Party Computation (MPC), a cryptographic technology that allows data analysis to be performed while the underlying data remains encrypted. This technology already earned Roseman Labs the 2024 top prize at the Privacy Awards, when they guaranteed data security for inclusive mobility with their platform.
"With MPC, we can split data into arbitrary numbers that are meaningless on their own," Segers explains. "This encrypted data is shared and analyzed without revealing the original information. Only the end result, such as statistics, is accessible."
This technology also offers legal advantages. "MPC meets the AVG requirements for data minimization and purpose limitation," says Segers. "Every analysis is pre-approved by the data providers, and only strictly necessary data is used."
In addition to technical innovation, the project also focuses on increasing awareness and trust among stakeholders. "Privacy is not just a technical challenge, but a social issue," Segers emphasizes. "People must be able to trust that their data is safe."
The approach has been praised for its transparency and ethical considerations. "Rotterdam's privacy consultant was so enthusiastic that she organized a webinar for other municipalities. This shows that we have developed a concrete model that can serve as an example," Segers said.
With their nomination for the Privacy Awards 2025, Roseman Labs and the City of Rotterdam underscore how technological innovation and privacy protection can go hand in hand to address societal challenges. Whether they go home with the top prize again remains to be seen, but the impact of their work is already undeniable.
