Replica Analytics, an Aetion company, has released Replica Synthesis 3.0, its privacy- and utility-preserving synthetic data generation software that has been updated with an enhanced user experience. This makes it easier for analysts to train generative models and evaluate their utility and privacy. The company unveiled the latest version of its software during a Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) demonstration at the Privacy Symposium, which attracts data protection experts from around the world to discuss the latest developments in data protection regulations, compliance, and innovative technologies.
“There is a serious data challenge impacting important research and innovation in healthcare, in part due to increasingly strict privacy requirements,” said Replica Analytics Co-founder, Senior Vice President and General Manager Dr. Khaled El Emam. “Synthetic data is rapidly emerging as a practical PET for addressing data access and sharing problems responsibly, enabling greater data utilization while meeting the requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).”
In addition to being Replica’s co-founder, Dr. El Emam is also the Canada research chair in medical and artificial intelligence at the University of Ottawa, where he has been developing and deploying PETs for two decades, focusing primarily on healthcare.
Synthetic data is generated from real data. A machine learning model captures the patterns in an original dataset and then generates new data from that model which closely captures the properties and patterns in the original dataset. Because synthetic data is generated from a model, it has low disclosure risks. A growing body of research offers evidence that synthetic data can reduce privacy risk and maintain data utility.
Replica Analytics was acquired in late 2021 by Aetion, a provider of regulatory-grade real-world evidence technology provider.
Read the original press release here.