MIT: "Assetization: Turning Things into Assets in Technoscientific Capitalism"

 From MIT Press an open access eBook with some intriguing chapter headings:

1: Introduction: Assetization and Technoscientific Capitalism

3: Datassets: Assetizing and Marketizing Personal Data
Thomas Beauvisage and Kevin Melle

Introduction

In a 2011 report entitled “Personal Data: The Emergence of a New Asset Class,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) stated that “personal data is generating a new wave of opportunity for economic and societal value creation. ... As some put it, personal data will be the new ‘oil’— a valuable resource of the 21st century. It will emerge as a new asset class touching all aspects of society” (Schwab et al. 2011, 5). Starting from this observation, the report called for the establishment of a new data infrastructure, which would simultaneously give individuals high control over their personal data and facilitate the flow and exchange of data so far retained in isolated silos among individuals, companies, and public institutions. The report predicted that personal data would constitute a new form of currency for individuals— one that they would be free to manage themselves: “In practical terms, a person’s data would be equivalent to their ‘money.’ It would reside in an account where it would be controlled, managed, exchanged and accounted for just like personal banking services operate today” (Schwab et al. 2011, 10)

 4: A Crisis for Cures? Tracing Assetization and Value in Biomedical Innovation

7: Expropriating the Future: Turning Ore Deposits and Legitimate Expectations into Assets 

9: Turning Nature into an Asset: Corporate Strategies for Rent-Seeking 

....MUCH MORE

If interested in chapter 3, here's what old Klaus and the WEF gang were writing a decade ago.