It could be an ever-present eye monitoring every facet of a person’s home life, but it won’t be a Big Brother, say the Midland scientists developing a device that will record all sorts of household electronic data.

Instead, the University of Warwick’s HAT (hub of all things) device could, ultimately, save householders money, as services like insurance and energy are tailored to an individual’s specific needs.

The HAT would record and hold data on the physical patterns of daily home life, and how gadgets and appliances are used.

The £1.2 million project is aiming to create a ‘physical personal digital repository’ to enable people to own and control their own personal data via an electronic device – a HAT – with their own digital data bank helping to shape products and services tailored to their individual needs.

The project, which could shape how products and services are marketed and sold to individuals is huge, according one of the Midland academics involved.

“We look at this like the start of Bill Gates and the PC world back in the seventies,” said WMG’s professor of marketing and service systems, Irene Ng. “Personal data exchanges will be the next big wave.”

Funding for the project has come from the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Programme and experts from the university’s Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), will be joined by business researchers, economists, computing experts and arts academics from Exeter, Nottingham, Cambridge, West of England and Edinburgh universities. Enshrined in the project is a commitment that personal data cannot be used for any other purposes without consent so that it remains the property and asset of the individual.

Ms Ng conceded there were a number of safeguards that needed to be in place in terms of balancing the commercial potential with safeguarding people’s privacy but believes there is far more to be gained than lost.

“The most important thing to create a trusted institution so whatever you put in there is yours,” she added.

“We’re not talking about a future where people are reluctant to share personal data we want to talk about a future where people want to generate more personal data.

“That is of benefit not just for us but for the way in which we live.”

Ms Ng said she believed the benefits could be two-way, both for consumers and the companies that cater for them and said just as people might once have been fearful about putting their money in a bank they would benefit from allowing their data to be exchanged.

“Personal data is now much closer to us in terms of who we are and what we do,” she said. “More and more things we do have become digitally visible and it is about having products and services to suit us.

“Markets form much closer to the point of consumption and experience, such as mobile phones or the way music has changed.”

Pointing to companies like Google and Facebook, who already use our data extensively, she said: “Look at Facebook, we give it away because we feel we are getting something out of it – interaction.

“We are prepared to give that away even though Facebook doesn’t tell you what it does with the data.

“We want to make a European position on personal data that is privacy preserving but it does not have to result in draconian laws that are not business friendly.

“We can be business friendly and privacy friendly. I believe we are pushing against an open door – there is a great need for this.”

As part of the project five members of the research team will test a prototype device in their own home.

Ms Ng said users could encompass everything from rewarding a safe driver with cheaper car insurance to being able to find cheaper energy use, with the added potential for two-way trading too.

“It is wonderful for the empowerment of consumers but also wonderful for business and the markets,” she added. “Let’s not become too Orwellian or dystopic – markets form where we want to buy and if they are there to serve us that can be a good thing.”

The project will launch ion June this year Ms Ng said the aim was to have a “market platform” to take forward within six months to a year, with the aim ultimately of “everyone having a HAT at home”.