The Data Economy Research Lab (DERL) in KDI School aims to advance our understanding on socio∙economic ramifications of this mega trend by conducting inter-disciplinary as well as inter-sectoral research on the workings of "data economy," defined as an ecosystem that generates economic and social values by exchanging or trading digital data. To establish such ecosystem, it is essential to ensure a series of market and institutional factors that can enable an efficient and safe mechanism for data collection and sharing, an innovative data analytics to be linked to social welfare gain, and a legal and regulatory environment for nurturing start-ups and other market participants. In our view, social science research on these topics is in its infant stage, which we will attempt to fill going forward with careful and rigorous research.