The huge prospects of Big Data, advanced machine learning and AI, as well as the shift to more “personalized”, “open” and “transparent” innovation models stress the importance of an effective governance, regulation and stimulation of shareable data-applications in the health & life sciences. Yet, cutting edge medical innovation requires more than freely available big data and machine-generated data. Pushing the boundaries of biomedical research also demands smart data and high quality data that are created and nourished through human intervention and considerable investments in an highly competitive environment. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and related rights come into play when data producers protect their investment in such data. While the need of recalibrating IPRs to fully support “big and smart data” advances is being intensely debated, there seems to be much confusion about the availability of IPRs and their legal effects. The same applies to foreseeable tension with regulations protecting the personal data and privacy of research participants, such as the GDPR. This presentation provides a very brief overview on selected areas that demonstrate emerging clashes at the interface of Big Data, personal data protection, standardization, IPRs and Competition/Antitrust Law.