The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is inviting organisations that champion emerging technologies and innovations using personal information to participate in its sandbox programme.

The Privacy Innovation and Knowledge-sharing Sandbox is a free service and a formal mechanism to allow the office to engage with organisations early, without discouraging innovative products, projects or services that do not have long histories of risk profiles.

The “Pink Sandbox” encourages a privacy by design approach that anticipates potential problems early, allowing partners to avoid missteps while building privacy into their offerings.

The office said that examples of emerging technologies include products such as self-driving cars, virtual reality and artificial intelligence — new types of tools or systems that are just beginning to be developed or used.

It said such technologies can present a range of risks that may harm people’s privacy and trust in these technologies.

Alexander White, the Privacy Commissioner, said: “Just like other regulators around the world, PrivCom has developed sandboxes, or structures where innovative organisations can test their product, project or service, and experiment in a controlled environment and in close co-ordination with the regulator.

“The regulator’s role in a sandbox is to provide oversight and expertise. In the past, the Pink Sandbox focused on training and equipping participating organisations with the necessary knowledge, skills and framework geared towards Personal Information Protection Act compliance.

“We have just relaunched the Pink Sandbox to support organisations which are creating products, projects or services that utilise personal information in innovative and safe ways.”

• An expression of interest form is available atwww.privacy.bm/pink-sandbox or can be requested via e-mail at innovation@privacy.bm