The Data Spaces Business Alliance (DSBA) was born in September 2021, a collaboration of four major organisations with much to contribute to the data economy: the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), FIWARE, Gaia-X and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA). Its goal: to drive the adoption of data spaces across Europe by leveraging synergies.

How does the DSBA work?

The DSBA brings together diverse actors to realise a data-driven future, where public and private organisations can share data and thus unlock its full value, ensuring sovereignty, interoperability, security and reliability. To achieve this goal, DSBA offers support to organisations, as well as tools, resources and expertise. For example, it is working on the development of a common framework of technology agnostic blocks that are reusable across different domains to ensure the interoperability of different data spaces.

The four founding organisations, BDVA, FIWARE, Gaia-X and IDSA, have a number of international networks of national or regional hubs, with more than 90 initiatives in 34 countries. These initiatives, although very heterogeneous in focus, legal form, level of maturity, etc., have commonalities and great potential to collaborate, complement each other and create impact. Moreover, by operating at local, regional and/or national level, these initiatives provide regular feedback to European associations on the different regional policies, cultures and entrepreneurial ecosystems within the EU.

In addition, DSBA's application has been successful in the European Commission's call for the creation of a Support Centre, which will promote and coordinate actions related to sectoral data spaces. This centre will make available technologies, processes, standards and tools to support the deployment of common data spaces, thus enabling the re-use of data across sectors.

The DSBA hubs

The DSBA hubs refer to the global network combining the existing BDVA, FIWARE, Gaia-X and IDSA initiatives, as shown in the figure below.

BDVA i-Spaces

BDVA i-Spaces are cross-sector and cross-organisational data incubators and innovation hubs, aimed at accelerating data-driven innovation and artificial intelligence in the public and private sectors. They provide secure experimentation environments, bringing together all the technical and non-technical aspects necessary for organisations, especially SMEs, to rapidly test, pilot and exploit their services, products and applications.

i-Spaces offer access to data sources, data management tools and artificial intelligence technologies, among others. They host closed and open data from corporate and public sources, such as language resources, geospatial data, health data, economic statistics, transport data, weather data, etc. The i-spaces have their own Big Data infrastructure with ad hoc processing power, online storage and state-of-the-art accelerators, all within European borders.

To become an i-Space, organisations must go through an assessment process, using a system of 5 categories, which are ranked according to gold, silver and bronze levels.  These hubs must renew their labels every two years, and these certifications allow them to join a pan-European federation to foster cross-border data innovation, through the EUHubs4Data project.

FIWARE iHubs

FIWARE is an open software community promoted by the ICT industry, which - with the support of the European Commission - provides tools and an innovation ecosystem for entrepreneurs to create new Smart applications and services. FIWARE iHubs are innovation hubs focused on creating communities and collaborative environments that drive the advancement of digital businesses in this area. These centres provide private companies, public administrations, academic institutions and developers with access to knowledge and a worldwide network of suppliers and integrators of this technology, which has also been endorsed by international standardisation bodies.

There are 5 types of iHubs:

• iHub School: An environment focused on learning FIWARE, from a business and technical perspective, taking advantage of practical use cases.
• iHub Lab: Laboratory where you can run tests and pilots, as well as obtain FIWARE certifications.
• iHub Business Mentor: Space to learn how to build a viable business model.
• iHub Community Creator: Physical meeting point for the local community to bring together all stakeholders, acting as a gateway to the local and global FIWARE ecosystem.

Gaia-X Hubs

The Gaia-X Hubs are the national contact points for the Gaia-X initiative. It should be noted that they are not as such part of Gaia-X AISBL (the European non-profit association), but act as independent think tanks, which cooperate with the association in project deployment, communication tasks, and generation of business requirements for the definition of the architecture of the initiative (as the hubs are close to the industrial projects in each country).

Through them, specific data spaces are developed based on national needs, as well as the identification of funding opportunities to implement Gaia-X services and technology. They also seek to interact with other regions to build transnational data spaces, facilitating the exchange of information and the scaling up of national use cases internationally. To this end, the AISBL provides access to a collaborative platform, as well as support to the respective hubs in the distribution and communication of the use cases.

IDSA Hubs

The IDSA Hubs enable the exchange of knowledge around the reference architecture (known as the IDS-RAM) at country level. By bringing together research organisations, innovation promotion organisations, non-profit organisations, and companies that use IDS concepts and standards in the region, they seek to foster their adoption, and thus promote a sovereign data economy with greater capillarity.

These centres are driven in each country by a university, research organisation, or non-profit entity, working with IDSA to raise awareness of data sovereignty, transfer knowledge, recruit new members, and disseminate IDS-RAM-based use cases. To this end, they develop activities ranging from training sessions to meetings with decision-makers from different public administrations. They also promote and coordinate research and development projects with international organisations and companies, as well as with governments and other public entities.

Conclusion

As we said at the beginning, there is a great potential for synergies between these groups, which should be explored, discussed and articulated in concrete actions and projects. We are facing a promising opportunity to join forces and make further progress in the development and expansion of data spaces, in order to generate a significant impact on the Data Economy.

To stimulate the initial debate, the Data Spaces Business Alliance has prepared the document "Data Spaces Business Alliance Hubs: potential for synergies and impact", which explores the situation described above.

The Constituent Assembly of the Gaia-X Spain Association, whose headquarters are located in Talavera de la Reina, was held on 18 March. The event brought together more than 150 entities of all kinds, including companies, public bodies, universities and innovation institutions, with the aim of joining forces to create an open, federated and interoperable data infrastructure, following the values of digital sovereignty and data availability. The ultimate goal is to drive the transformation of strategic sectors within the framework of the Data Economy.

To advance in this area, a number of working groups have been set up. These groups seek to leverage the advantages of Gaia-X to develop sectoral data spaces where different actors share data in a voluntary and secure manner.

The Gaia-X national hub working groups

Among the various working groups that have been set up, we find both sectoral groups, as well as horizontal groups focused on enabling technologies, ethics and legislation. The aim is to develop the vision of the data space in each sector of activity, as well as to obtain common and guiding principles for all of them.

The working groups of the Gaia-X national hub facilitate the connection between companies, administrations and other entities that offer and demand data services and technologies, with the aim of obtaining an adequate development and interoperability of the sectorial data spaces. They also act as a meeting point to disseminate experiences, success stories and lessons learned.

These groups also participate in various events. One of them was Global Mobility Call, organised by IFEMA MADRID and Smobhub on 16 June to discuss sustainable mobility. It was attended by members of the mobility working group of the national Gaia-X Hub. During the session, several challenges related to the creation of data spaces came up, which, although focused on the field of mobility, can be applicable to other sectors.

4 challenges to consider

1. Moving from Theory to Practice

The creation of a data space must be done from a clear bottom-up approach, starting from concrete use cases, and making the most of the technological building blocks already available.

To this end, the first step is to identify the needs and opportunities that can be addressed by the exchange and exploitation of data within each sector. Use cases must address a specific business need. An economic model must be agreed and the responsibilities to be acquired by the actors involved, as well as an incentive scheme, must be established. Beyond the technical components, certainty is needed about the operational, legal and commercial considerations that will govern the data exchanges.

In developing the use cases, it is essential to establish the data catalogues to be exchanged and exploited, as well as the semantics of the data. It is also important that the solution created seeks interoperability with analogous solutions, as well as establishing mechanisms for continuous improvement of the quality of the data exchanged.

The use cases must demonstrate the value derived from data sharing. This can be done by taking advantage of the experimentation spaces available within the Data Spaces Business Alliance (DSBA) hubs, as well as by using agile methodologies that allow results to be visualised early on.

2. Standardisation

The recently proposed EU Data Act provides for the development of interoperability standards for the re-use of data across sectors, in an attempt to remove barriers to data exchange. In the absence of applicable standards, the Commission will adopt implementing orders in this respect.

In this regard, there is a need to change the way in which standards are generated in order to gain agility. Working group members can identify specific standardisation needs and even propose solutions that become de facto standards.

On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on the convergence of the different perspectives and approaches to the creation of data spaces that currently exist. Their development should not be conceived in isolation, or from the exclusive vision of a single association, but as holistically as possible.

3.Awareness raising and change management actions

In order to share data externally, there must be a mindset of sharing internally. This change of mindset involves complex change management where top management support is essential. A data culture needs to be embedded in organisations to maximise the value of data.

4.Communication and dynamisation actions to disseminate the model

It is also essential to develop workshops and congresses to address common problems, best practices and seek synergies of action. In order to raise awareness, it is necessary to evangelise about the profitability that data sharing generates for the sector's agents. This profitability is not only derived from its sale, but also from the generation of new products or the enrichment of existing ones, which adds value to the business.

These four general considerations must be nuanced by taking into account the specific needs of each sector to drive the development of effective sectoral data spaces. These spaces will facilitate the creation of innovative solutions based on data and disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, helping to boost the competitiveness of companies and the advancement of society in general.

The Tourism Data Space event took place on 9 June, organised by Gaia-X, the European private sector initiative for the creation of an open, federated and interoperable data infrastructure to drive the Data Economy while respecting digital sovereignty. During the event, which was held online, international experts from the public and private sector discussed "How can data spaces contribute to the development of tourism in Europe through citizen-centric offerings?”. The event was a success with more than 250 attendees from 21 countries.

The tourism sector has a strong economic weight in Europe, although it has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in international tourist arrivals, which exceeded 70% worldwide. In this context, Gaia-X and data spaces are positioned as a great opportunity for companies in the sector. Gaia-X aims to make European data available to improve the ability to attract tourists by creating more personalised offers, products and services, resulting in an enhanced experience tailored to customers' needs. It was with this premise in mind that the event kicked off, focusing on the requirements and need for a secure, decentralised and citizen-oriented European tourism data space.

The opening speech of the event was given by Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation, who highlighted the importance of the tourism sector: "“Finally, we are giving the tourism the importance it deserves also in the data economy. At the EU level, the tourism sector directly contributes to almost 4% of GDP with 2.3 million businesses, majority of which are SMEs”. This sector also employs 22.4% of the service sector workforce, as Francesco Bonfiglio, Director General of Gaia-X AISBL, commented: "This market is worth billions of euros, and is one of the areas with the greatest impact if we decide to invest in a common European data space".

Artigas also stressed that "Before the end of the year we will have a new digital space for tourism at European level, and this is great news", always respecting the basic principles of data sovereignty, privacy, security and interoperability.

Yvo Volman, Chief Data Officer at DG-CNECT (European Commission), explained that in order to achieve the set objectives, empowerment and data sharing also across sectors is essential. This is the only way to establish better services and promote sustainability. The importance of education was also stressed by Natalia Bayona, Director of Innovation, Education and Investment at the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO): "Tourism is the main employer of women and young people. However, 50% of people working in tourism have only secondary skills. If we want to develop a high-level economic sector, we have to develop education". In her speech, she also focused on the need for a public-private relationship, with projects such as Gaia-X as a spearhead to drive innovation.

This was followed by several presentations focused on providing an overview of the landscape of the Gaia-X Tourism data space in Europe, with experts from different countries. From Spain, Ana Moniche, Senior Analyst at Turismo Andaluz and NECSTourR, and Cristina Núñez, Director of Necstour, spoke about European regional practices for competitive and sustainable tourism, highlighting how European data sharing is fundamental to develop strategies based on quality information. Data sharing also offers companies with fewer resources the possibility of accessing large amounts of data, which they would not be able to access through their own mechanisms.

Dolores Ordóñez, Director of AnySolution and Vice President of the Spanish Gaia-X Hub, also spoke in this section. In her speech, she highlighted the need for collaboration between companies of different sizes and sectors, especially in four major areas: tourism, health, industry 4.0 and mobility. In the section dedicated to the pillars of tourism data spaces, among other speakers, Alberto Palomo, CDO of the Government of Spain, pointed out the importance of generating scalability in data sharing, as well as the creation of a common framework that shapes governance mechanisms that are useful and accepted by industry players. He also warned that the paradigm we are facing is that of an "innovative decentralised infrastructure", something that all participants must be clear about, because of the cultural change it implies.

To conclude, the event was divided into 3 thematic sessions, designed to create an atmosphere of cross-border collaboration and help create a sustainable data infrastructure for the tourism industry. These sessions focused on smart destinations, the tourism value chain and its technological enablers. More information about the event can be found in the video teaser. This event is part of a series of meetings organised by Gaia-X around data spaces. Two previous events have focused on mobility and health. Gaia-X will continue to hold such activities in the coming months, as can be seen in its calendar. In addition, it has launched a magazine and a podcast series to keep up to date with the latest trends related to the data space.

In the current context, digitalisation has expanded exponentially, reaching beyond the boundaries of the private sector and consolidating itself as one of the great challenges in all productive sectors of society. This process has brought with it the massive generation of data from which to extract value. However, according to an IDC/EMC study, it is believed that, despite the fact that the volume of data will multiply exponentially in the short term, only 1% of the data generated is used, processed and exploited. One of the reasons for this lies in the inconsistency and inflexibility of data models, which block data integration.

In this regard, the Spanish government's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which details Spain's strategy for channelling EU funds to repair the damage caused by the pandemic, emphasises technological reforms and investments focused on building a more sustainable future. One of the main challenges in this area is to boost data sharing, mainly in those sectors with the greatest impact on society, such as health and tourism.

To this end, smart data models play a fundamental role. But what exactly are they?

visión común que proporciona una base técnica para lograr la apertura de la innovación.

What are Smart Data Models?

A traditional data model is a representation of the elements of a dataset and their relationships and connections to each other. Smart Data Models go one step further. They are common and compatible data models, with the objective of supporting a digital marketplace of interoperable and replicable smart solutions across multiple sectors, so that the availability of data in specific domains is homogenised.

These models propose a common vision that provides a technical basis for unlocking innovation.

SDM Initiative

The FIWARE Foundation, TM Forum, IUDX and OASC have joined forces to lead a joint collaborative initiative to bring together intelligent data models by domains, making them available to organisations and any user who wants them. This is known as the SDM (Smart data models) initiative, in which all data models are public.

In this way, it responds to the new data modelling needs at the speed required by the market, reusing models that have already been tested in real scenarios.

How does it work?

The fundamental objective of SDM is that organisations can evolve their vision of data exchange towards a sharing that supports both the so-called Data Economy and the data spaces.

The Data Economy is nothing more than the set of activities and initiatives whose business model is based on the discovery and exploitation of data to identify opportunities that generate products and services.

SDM classifies information by domains or industrial sectors, creating a repository for each of them. In addition, each domain contains sub-modules with the relevant topics for that domain and, within each topic, the related data models. However, shared cross-cutting elements are also available for all domains. For each of these repositories, models can be extracted free of charge. It is also possible to contribute to the initiative by filling in a collaboration form to create new ones.

To facilitate sharing and common understanding, each model includes three elements:

• The model's technical representation that defines the data and its relationships, using JSON structures.
• The specification or manual with the functional descriptions of each of the elements contained in the model.
• Examples to ensure understanding.

In addition to its public nature and free use, it has a licence that allows users to make modifications if they consider it necessary, as well as to share these modifications with the rest of the users. To this end, a workflow is defined according to the phases of the life cycle of the data models, which presents three stages:

• Official: the data models have already been accepted and are fully available to users with the three elements described above.
• In harmonisation: the models have already been accepted, but are still in progress to complete the elements.
• In incubation: the models are being developed and supported by the organisation to achieve an official model.

Through this initiative, data models sharing at all levels will be made more dynamic. For the moment, models have already been homogenised in the domains of smart cities, the agri-food sector, water treatment, energy, environment, sensor technology, robotics, aeronautics, tourist destinations, health and manufacturing industry, as well as some transversal ones such as social media or incident monitoring, although not all to the same extent, as shown in the following image with the number of models included in each domain.

It is, without a doubt, an initiative that facilitates the path towards the data-driven transformation of products and services, providing the opening of models as the technical basis on which the adoption of reference architectures will be based. If you want to go deeper, the SDM itself contains a "Learning zone" section to facilitate learning about the initiative and encourage its use, including self-explanatory videos.

There is also a whole series of tools for those users who, although experts in their sector of activity, are not experts in the generation of data models. Under the tools menu item, there are services that allow users to generate a draft data model with an example, an assisted online data model editor, options to generate examples from existing data models, and options to incorporate the @context element that allows connection to linked data solutions.

Global initiatives such as SDM are of great importance when it comes to agreeing benchmarks to optimise citizen services. They constitute a further step in the objective of achieving common data spaces, making available contrasted data models. This milestone is a major accelerator for its transcendence, even at European level, with major initiatives already underway, such as GAIA-X.

Content prepared by Juan Mañes, expert in Data Governance, with contributions from the Data Office.

The contents and views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

The Commission's drive to promote data spaces within the framework of a European Strategy is based on the firm commitment to a regulatory framework that provides regulatory coherence throughout the Union. In particular, the aim is to establish a solid regulation that offers legal certainty to a model based on respect for rights and freedoms. Thus, initially, two initiatives have been promoted to, on the one hand, establish the regulatory bases of the governance model - already definitively adopted by Regulation (EU) 2022/868 of 30 May - and, on the other hand, to establish harmonised rules on the access and fair use of data throughout the Union.

However, while recognising the importance of the design of this general legal architecture, the effective opening and exchange of data requires a more concrete approach that takes into account the specificities of each sectoral area and, in particular, the difficulties and challenges to be faced. Therefore, taking into account the general regulatory framework referred to above, the Commission has presented the first regulatory initiative for one of these areas, related to health data, which is currently under public consultation and negotiation in the Council of the EU and in the European Parliament, and which is part of the project to create a European health data area.

In particular, beyond facilitating the development of cross-border e-services, the proposal aims to address a triple objective:

• Establish a uniform legal framework to facilitate the development, marketing and use of electronic health record systems by establishing a compulsory self-certification scheme for certain systems, which in any case provides for some exceptions, e.g. general purpose software used in healthcare environments.

• Facilitating patients' electronic access to their own data in the framework of healthcare provision (primary use of health data). In this respect, the proposal seeks to strengthen consistency across Member States in protecting health data irrespective of where the healthcare provision takes place or the type of entity carrying it out.

• Encourage the re-use of such data for other secondary purposes. To this end, a specific governance model is envisaged with a specific body at the head - the so-called European Health Data Space Board - and the deployment of duly coordinated state administrative structures - health data access bodies.

We will look at this last point in more detail below.

The promotion of secondary uses

With regard to the re-use of data for purposes other than health care, the proposed regulation is based on the following evidence: although health data are already being collected and processed using electronic means, in many cases, however, access to them is not facilitated to satisfy other purposes of general interest. For this reason, in general, it is intended to establish a broad regulation that facilitates secondary uses of health data. For example, the elaboration of statistics, the development of training and research activities, such as technological innovation -including the training of algorithms- or personalised medicine.

However, for the purposes of denying access to health data, some secondary uses are expressly declared incompatible, such as:

•  The adoption of decisions detrimental to natural persons, meaning not only those that produce legal effects but also those that significantly affect them. In this respect, changes relating to insurance contracts, such as an increase in the amounts to be paid, are specifically highlighted.

• The carrying out of advertising or marketing activities aimed at healthcare professionals, organisations in the sector or natural persons.

•  Making data available to third parties that are not covered by the data permission granted.

• The development of harmful products and services, including in particular illicit drugs, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products or goods or services that contravene public order or morality.

With regard to the parties obliged to share data, in principle the proposed regulation extends to those who collect and process data with public funding, who must make them available to the competent bodies for access to health data in order to facilitate their re-use. However, given their importance in some States, the regulation also extends its scope of application to private parties providing health services - except in the case of micro-enterprises - and also to professional associations. Specifically, this regulation would affect "any natural or legal person, which is an entity or a body in the health or care sector, or performing research in relation to these sectors, as well as Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies who has the right or obligation, in accordance with this Regulation, applicable Union law or national legislation implementing Union law, or in the case of non-personal data, through control of the technical design of a product and related services, the ability to make available, including to register, provide, restrict access or exchange certain data".

Purpose and conditions of access to health data

The proposed Regulation is based on a broad concept of health data, which includes the following categories: 

The regulation is based on a general rule: access to anonymised data as a measure to reduce privacy risks, although a specific regime is also envisaged for personal data. In this case, the request must include an adequate justification and the data will only be provided in pseudonymised form.

As regards the form of access, the particular sensitivity of health data determines that it is proposed that they should be made available through a secure processing environment that complies with the technical and security standards included in the proposal. In particular, the proposal does not allow that, except for non-personal data, the data are transmitted directly to the person who will re-use them.  Furthermore, it provides for processing to take place in secure environments under the control of the access authorities.

Access authorities for health data

From the perspective of the governance model underpinning the proposal, States should have at least one health data access body to provide electronic access to health data for secondary purposes. In the case of multiple bodies due to requirements arising from their political-administrative organisation, one of them will have a coordinating role. Beyond the organisational freedom of the States to choose one or another organisational formula, it is essential that the independence of the coordinating body be guaranteed, without prejudice to the mechanisms of financial or judicial control.

As already indicated, the main purpose of this measure is to ensure a uniform and consistent application of the regulatory framework for access to health data for secondary purposes across the European Union, in particular as regards the protection of personal data in this sector. In this respect, it is proposed that these bodies should be given the powers to verify compliance with these rules and, in particular, to impose sanctions and other measures such as temporary or definitive exclusion from the European Health Data Area of those who do not comply with their obligations.

The harmonisation sought by the proposed Regulation is also envisaged in the establishment of a standardised process for the issuing of permissions to re-use data for secondary purposes. In particular, in cases where anonymised access to the data is not enough, reasons should be given as to why pseudonymised access is necessary. In the latter case, the request must specify the legal basis for requesting access to the data from the perspective of personal data protection law, the secondary purposes for which the data are intended to be re-used, as well as a description of the data and tools necessary for their processing.

Finally, the proposed regulation includes active disclosure obligations addressed to these bodies about the available datasets. This is an essential measure, since the existence of a catalogue of datasets at European level - based on the interconnection of national datasets - would be extremely useful for promoting not only research and innovation but also decision-making at regulatory and political level. Specifically, for each set of available data, the nature of the data, its source and the conditions for making it available will have to be indicated.

In short, this is a certainly innovative initiative to address the regulatory diversity existing in each Member State, which is, however, at an early stage of processing. Precisely, a participation procedure is currently open that allows for the submission of allegations against the initial drafting until 28 July 2022 through a simple procedure accessible via this link.

Content prepared by Julián Valero, Professor at the University of Murcia and Coordinator of the Research Group "Innovation, Law and Technology" (iDerTec).

The contents and views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

What role can data portals play in the context of the data spaces identified in the European Data Strategy? This is the question posed by the European Commission, through its open data initiative 'data.europa.eu', and which serves as the starting point for the report "data.europa.eu and the European common data spaces".

Data.europa.eu and the Common European Data Spaces: Report Methodology

"data.europa.eu and the European common data spaces" is the first of two reports analysing the role that data.europa.eu could play in the context of the emerging European Union common data spaces envisaged in the European Data Strategy. It should be noted that part of this strategy is the development of interoperable common European data spaces across different sectors, an initiative that is still in the process of consolidation.

The objective of the report is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to identify open data holders who are involved in ongoing implementations of data spaces. On the other hand, it offers a reflection on the role that open data portals could play in these implementations, especially the European portal.

To carry out the development of this first report, its authors (Óscar Corcho and Elena Simperl), conducted an in-depth analysis of the existing official documentation on the European Data Strategy, as well as reviewing online resources and use cases of initiatives such as IDSA, Gaia-X or Open DEI.

Simultaneously, they conducted interviews with developers of data architectures and data spaces. As full implementations do not yet exist, the analysis was based on use cases, work in progress and roadmaps, rather than on operational data spaces.

Main findings of the report

Although this is only the first of two studies, the authors have been able to highlight several far-reaching conclusions:

1. Open data is commonly mentioned alongside private and personal data as a type of data source. However, open data owners are often not involved in initiatives to develop reference data space architectures or their implementations. This situation needs to change by ensuring their involvement.
2. Open data holders have extensive experience in data publishing, metadata management, quality indicators, dataset discovery and federation, as well as in technologies and standards such as DCAT. However, there is very little transfer of knowledge and technologies from the open data community to the data space community.
3. The use of data from multiple sources requires interoperability at various levels. The need for data intermediaries acting as neutral brokers to ensure interoperability is an under-explored issue in the context of data spaces. Public administrations, building on their experience in data publishing, are best placed to take on this role.

The second report - to be published once the data space implementations are available in 2023 - will explore three data space scenarios, with data.europa.eu as data holder or data broker. In addition, it will analyse in detail the challenges and opportunities for the European portal in the context of these developments.

A webinar to further explore the role of the European Data Portal in data spaces

The concept of "data space" arises from the need to provide as much openness of information as possible, while recognising that some data should not be completely open. As a result of this dichotomy, the idea of creating a community of participants who share and use data on the basis of pre-established rules, guaranteeing an environment of sovereignty and trust, was born.

Ideas such as these prompted a webinar on open data and how it fits into broader data space ecosystems to be held on 4 May in the framework of the data.europa.academy. During this session in English, which you can access via this link, some key points of the report's analysis were explored in more detail. In addition to the recording of the session, you can view and download for free the PDF presentation that was used as a guide for the webinar.

Next steps

Ultimately, data spaces belong to an emerging field that still has some biases and limitations. Open government data sources, portals and their practitioners are not as well represented as they could be, even in sectors where they play a key role, such as mobility or smart cities. This needs to change.

The future of the research conducted in this report is to await the publication of the aforementioned second report, which will become effective once more developed European common data spaces are available and the work on reference resources has been completed by IDSA and Gaia-X. These forthcoming actions will allow the formulation of more specific recommendations that can be based on the characteristics of the actual data spaces in operation.

In the framework of european data strategy, one of the issues on which the European Commission is working is to facilitate the exchange of data held by companies with the administrations to improve public services and guide policy decisions. According to the Commission's own definition, theB2G data exchange it is a collaboration in which a company or other private organization makes its data (or knowledge) available to the public sector (local, regional, national or EU) for a purpose of public interest.

In order to obtain legal advice, identify good practices and collect recommendations for its policies, in 2018, the European Commission appointed a group of high-level independent experts with experience in the public and private sector in the field of B2G data exchange. The conclusions and recommendations of the group to the Commission were included in a report final which has been used to advise possible Commission initiatives on this matter.

The report recognizes that much of the potential of data and knowledge, so that they can be used for the benefit of society, still unexploded. Organizational, technical, and legal obstacles, as well as a general lack of a data-sharing culture, are among the causes that make most current collaborations ad hoc. The report provides a detailed description of the barriers to collaboration and proposes a comprehensive framework of policy, legal, and funding recommendations to enable scalable, responsible, and sustainable B2G data sharing in the public interest. A good number of examples of European B2G collaborations that have been used in the analysis methodology and that are generally little known even to the most specialized public are also included.

The most interesting part perhaps lies in the key recommendations that are made to the European Commission and a Member States to consider data as critical public infrastructure for the future of the EU and take action accordingly to facilitate the use of private data for the public interest.

These recommendations are structured in three main categories that refer to the governance of exchanges, the transparency of said exchanges and the tools that facilitate exchanges. Specific measures are suggested for each of them.

Governance of B2G data exchange across the EU

The first recommendation made by the report is that all Member States establish governance structures that can monitor and provide advice on responsible B2G data sharing practices. Additionally, and in order to support this idea, it is recommended that private, public and civil society organizations promote the function of data administrator and that the European Commission encourage the creation of a network of such data managers, as a community of practice in the field.

Recommendations are also made regarding the application of reference conditions (including, in some cases, free conditions) applicable to the acquisition of privately owned data for purposes of public interest in accordance with the B2G data exchange principles.

Transparency, citizen participation and ethics in the exchange of B2G data

The first recommendation in this category is that B2G data collaborations between public, private, and civil society organizations should be transparent, including regarding the data used and the impact of the collaborations.

The recommendations also focus on the need for Member States and the European Commission to raise citizens' public awareness of the societal benefits of data (for example, by initiating data literacy programs) and to involve the general public in the choice of societal challenges to be addressed. This line of action calls on Member States to promote user-friendly data donation mechanisms and encourage the general public to share your data for the public interest purposes of your choice. In this sense, his own EU data portal acknowledges in a recently published report the enormous gaps, as well as the great opportunities, in relation to the publication of data generated by citizens.

The experts do not forget to remind the European Commission of the need to develop ethical guidelines on the use of data, including for the public interest and, where appropriate, taking into account the European Union Ethical Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence.

Finally, Member States are asked to invest in the training, education and up-skilling of policy makers and public sector workers to increase the readiness and operational capacity of the public sector to use and act on data.

Operating models, structures and technical tools to facilitate data exchange

Experts propose that the European Commission and Member States put in place incentives for B2G data sharing and mechanisms that ensure public recognition of private companies and civil society organizations involved in B2G data sharing.

Experts consider the programs of the new financial framework 2021-2027 and in particular the Digital Europe Program and the Horizon Europe Program as key pieces to implement the recommendations. Firstly, to finance the development and deployment of technologies (privacy preservation, security technologies and access control technologies) that favor B2G data exchange at scale and in a responsible and sustainable manner. But also, to promote the creation of a light governance structure that prioritizes standards that allow reducing the transaction costs of B2G data exchange and guaranteeing interoperability.

Finally, the European Commission is asked to carry out studies to obtain further empirical evidence of the macroeconomic and social benefits of B2G data sharing for the public interest.

In short, the EU seems determined to promote B2G collaborations by creating a common framework that allows the development of fast, responsible and sustainable B2G data exchange. And the list of areas in which the exchange of B2G data can have a great impact on the lives of citizens is endless: making health services be more efficient, improve the diagnosis of diseases in the population, react faster in emergencies and natural or humanitarian disasters, allow public research institutes access to data for the development of ethical artificial intelligence services, save energy for a more sustainable society, improve mobility, develop smarter cities, etc.

Content written by Jose Luis Marín, Senior Consultant in Data, Strategy, Innovation & Digitalization.

The contents and views reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

Part of the European Union's new strategy to create a digital single market focuses its attention on the construction of a Data Economy. In carrying out this process, European data spaces are of paramount importance. Data spaces are ecosystems that make it easy to share, find, access, and use data.

To talk about it, Cajasiete Chair of Big Data, Open Data and Blockchain of the University of La Laguna will arrange a new online webinar focused on this theme. The event will take place next Thursday, May 24, at 12:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. in the Canary Islands) and will be attended by Carlos Alonso Peña, director of the Data Office Division.

The webinar will focus on the importance of this ecosystem when materializing the voluntary sharing of the data of its participants, within an environment of sovereignty, trust and security. This requires the establishment of integrated governance, organizational, regulatory and technical mechanisms.

The boost of the Data Economy

Promoting the Data Economy is one of the main priorities set by both the European Union and our country. In fact, one of the EU's goals is to become a leader in a data-driven society, relying on a single digital market where data is shared freely between member countries. For this purpose, the European Data Strategy was launched, from which you can obtain more information through this link.

Digital Spain 2025, the plan designed to promote digital transformation in our country includes the Data Economy as one of its main axes. This document sets out, among other aspects, the need to make Spain a benchmark in the digital transformation towards a Data Economy, using the opportunities offered by cloud services or new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

The role of the Data Office in this process

One of the measures that it was agreed to carry out to achieve the above objectives was the implementation of a Data Office, something that is already a reality. This body is in charge of designing and proposing strategies that promote the sharing, management and use of data in all productive sectors of the economy and society, thus guaranteeing good governance and security.

In this sense, the Data Office seeks to face the main challenges that currently exist in the Data Economy, defining legal and policy frameworks for data sharing and governance, as well as collaborating in the promotion of data spaces and initiatives such as the Spanish hub of Gaia-X, which will enhance and support the competitiveness of the Data Economy.

Both the data spaces and initiatives of the nature of Gaia-X are undoubtedly presented as elements of great importance when it comes to achieving the objectives of the European strategy, also helping to promote the creation of ecosystems capable of promoting development new products and services based on more accessible data.

The following infographic shows the context driving the development of data spaces, focusing on some related European initiatives such as Gaia-X and ISDA. For more in-depth content you can read the following articles:

• The importance of deploying European Data Spaces
• Gaia-X and the drive for the data economy
• https://datos.gob.es/en/blog/ids-ram-reference-architecture-model-and-its-role-data-spaces
• The Data Office: the challenge of promoting the Data Economy

Click on the infographic to see it in full size and access the links:

The data economy represents a huge business opportunity for companies of all sizes and sectors. According to European Commission estimates, the Data Economy will be worth €829 billion in 2025 for the 27 member states. But for the data economy to develop properly, structures are needed to facilitate the exchange of data and, with it, the development of business models based on its exploration and exploitation.

Data spaces fulfil this function by facilitating the development of an ecosystem where different actors share data in a voluntary and secure manner. To do so, they must follow common governance, organisational, regulatory and technical mechanisms.

One way to ensure that this is done properly is through reference models, such as the IDS-RAM (International Data Spaces Reference Architect Model), an initiative developed by the International Data Space Association and endorsed by the European Union.

What is the International Data Space Association?

IDSA (International Data Spaces Association) is a coalition currently comprised of 133 international, not-for-profit companies, which emerged in 2016 to work on the concept of data spaces and the principles that their design should follow in order to obtain value from data through sharing, based on secure, transparent and fair mechanisms for participants, which guarantee sovereignty and trust. These companies represent dozens of industry sectors and are based in 22 countries around the world.

IDSA is connected to different European initiatives, including BDVA, FIWARE and Plattform Industrie 4.0, participating in more than twenty European research projects, mainly in the Horizon 2020 programme.

IDSA's mission is to drive the global digital economy. To this end, among other things, it promotes an architectural reference model called IDS (International Data Spaces), a secure and sovereign data exchange system. The aim of this model is to standardise data exchange in such a way that participants can obtain all possible value from their information without losing control over it, setting the conditions for the use of their own data.

IDS-RAM architecture

The IDS-RAM (Reference Architecture model) is characterised by an open architecture (they publish their code as open source software), reliable and federated for cross-sector data exchange, facilitating sovereignty and interoperability.

IDS-RAM establishes a series of standardised roles and interactions through a 5-layer structure (business, functional, process, information and system) that are addressed from the perspective of security, certification and governance, as shown in the following figure.

These layers are critical to ensure the success of a data sharing initiative. Let's look at each of them based on the IDSA's own "Reference architecture model" and Planetic's "Positioning on Data Spaces" report, where IDS-RAM is analysed as a success story.

The business layer defines the different existing roles and the interaction patterns between them, including contracts and data usage policies. Specifically, there are four roles:

• Essential participant: any organisation that owns, offers or consumes data.
• Intermediary: trusted entities and intermediaries, such as brokers, clearing houses, identity providers and others.
• Service/Software Provider: companies that provide services and/or software to participants.
• Governance body: such as certification bodies, which are essential to guarantee the capabilities of organisations and generate an environment of trust. The IDS Association itself would also be included in this section.

These roles are related in an ecosystem marked by six categories of requirements, defined in the functional layer:

• Trust, achieved through identity management and user certification.
• Security and data sovereignty, which includes authentication and authorisation, usage policies, trusted communication and technical certification.
• Data Ecosystem, which includes the description of data sources, data brokering and vocabularies used for metadata.
• Standardisation and interoperability, which ensures the operability necessary for successful data exchange.
• Value-added applications, which allow data to be transformed or processed.
• Data marketisation, which covers aspects such as billing, usage restrictions, governance, etc., necessary when data sharing is done under payment models.

The process layer captures the interactions that take place within the data space, including the on-boarding of users, for which they need to acquire an identity provided by a certification body and request a data connector (a technical component to be installed) from a software provider.

identity provided by a certification body and request a data connector (a technical component to be installed) from a software provider. This layer also defines the processes required for data exchange and the publication and use of data apps.

The information layer explains the information model and the common vocabulary to be used to facilitate compatibility and interoperability, so that data exchange can be automated. A proprietary ontology based on an RDF schema is used for its definition.

Finally, the system layer assigns a concrete architecture of data and services to each role in order to guarantee functional requirements.

All these abstractions of layers and perspectives enable the exchange of data between data providers and data consumers, using the appropriate software connectors, accessing the metadata broker where data catalogues and their conditions of use are specified, with the possibility of deploying applications for data processing and keeping track of the transactions carried out (clearing house), all of this guaranteeing the identity of the participants.

Ultimately, it is a functional framework that provides a governance framework for secure and reliable interoperability and an open software architecture to ensure maximum adoption. In this sense, the IDSA has set itself the following objectives:

• Establish the IDS model (RAM) as the international standard for data exchange in the economy of the future.
• Evolve this reference model according to use cases.
• Develop and evolve an adoption strategy for the model.
• Support its deployment based on certifiable software solutions and commercial models.

This standard is already being used by many companies as diverse as Deutsche Telekom, IBM or Volkswagen.

The role of IDS-RAM in Gaia-X and the European Data Strategy

The IDS reference architecture model is part of the initiatives deployed within the overall framework of the EU data strategy.

Through various initiatives, the European Commission seeks to promote and interconnect data spaces in order to foster the consultation, sharing and cross-exploitation of available data, while ensuring their privacy. It is in this framework that Gaia-X has been launched, an European private sector initiative for the creation of an open, federated and interoperable data infrastructure, built on the values of digital sovereignty and data availability, and the promotion of the data economy.

The IDSA association, promoter of the IDS reference architecture, is actively participating in Gaia-X, so that the initiatives currently underway to develop reference models and implementations for data sharing with sovereignty and trust can be brought together in a de facto open standard.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.