COVA is a new paradigm for capitalizing data. Currently, data is becoming the most important resource of human society. However, the backward definition of property rights and infrastructure make it difficult to realize the currency of data. COVA provides a unique solution to this dilemma, making natural resources a valuable currency and promoting data capitalization.

How the project works

Start with data from multiple sources
Data is one of an organization's most valuable assets. Over 90% of the data in the world today is still locked in data silos due to privacy concerns. Enter the COVA Unity platform. The COVA Unity platform integrates seamlessly with existing databases, requiring only specific forms of encryption and open network connections.

Create the correct data policy
Once the database is encrypted and connected, a programmatic data usage policy needs to be created to express access rules. Complex access rules can be expressed programmatically. As a starting example, a statistics-only policy could be created to review user-level information while allowing advanced statistics to be extracted.

Open Data Access
Requests from third-party users are automatically checked against the specified data usage policy before allowing access. With the COVA platform, the limitations of corporate data can be released to the greatest extent without compromising the privacy of user data.

Technical features

Blockchain
A permissioned blockchain system is used to allow high-performance communication between platform components and allow affordable microtransactions. Public blockchains such as Ethereum and Binance Chain are used as financial settlement ledgers.

Three Links
Powering the COVA Unity platform is the foundation of the TEE nodes that run the COVA software and provide safe and reliable execution functions. All data and code processed by the COVA network is securely cobbled together, hidden and protected within a secure enclave.

Data Policy
Programmatic data policy bridges semantic concepts from natural language to machine-executable policy code. They provide data owners with a new tool to prevent their valuable data from being misused.

Shared Infrastructure
The COVA Unity platform provides the computing infrastructure. This design eliminates the need for businesses to acquire extensive expertise in blockchain or TEE technology, and makes the integration process easy without a maintenance process.

Application scenario

Health Care
Data sharing among medical institutions will accelerate the development of new drugs, new treatments and basic scientific research. However, data repositories such as hospitals are currently unable to share useful data without compromising patient privacy. COVA Unity is a tool for hospital administrators and chief physicians to share their data with third-party research institutions and commercial organizations, while providing full protection of patient privacy.

Social Media
Social media companies have recently come under increased scrutiny for violating user privacy. Millions of data inputs used for scientific research could end up in the hands of malicious actors. These companies can prevent further scandals by deploying COVA Unity. COVA Unity data usage policies can be written that only allow approved actions on that data and effectively prevent misuse by malicious actors.

Retail
Since the invention of recommendation engines, e-commerce sites have collected extensive user browsing data through cookies and collaborated with other entities through cross-site tracking. This data has been successfully converted into targeted advertising, which has become an essential revenue growth driver. But online users are increasingly concerned about sharing their browsing and financial information, with many calling for new regulations on how their data is collected and used. COVA Unity can help e-commerce sites maintain the current state of efficient data collection and cross-sharing while protecting consumer information at a granular level.

Law Enforcement
By collecting comprehensive data on all citizens, government surveillance programs have grown to unacceptable scale. It doesn't have to be. With COVA Unity, law enforcement agencies can collect statistical data about their citizens to monitor for any suspicious behavior, and the government can identify specific user-level information only when it is backed by strong enough evidence. This paradigm enables a privacy-respecting surveillance program that enhances national security and citizen privacy.