Oficina del Dato

Public sector bodies must make their data available for re-use, making it accessible in the form of open data, as referred to in Spain's legislative framework. The first step for this is that each entity, at local, regional and state level, as well as bodies, entities and trading companies belonging to the institutional public sector, establishes a unit responsible for ensuring that their information is made available. This unit will be in charge of promoting that the information is updated and provided in the appropriate open formats. It should also coordinate information re-use activities, as well as promotion, awareness raising and training on open data, among other functions.

Once it has been determined who is responsible for ensuring open data, it is time to put in place a plan of measures to promote openness and reuse of open data, so that all the actions to be developed are carried out in an orderly, coordinated manner and subject to a viable agenda for openness.

In order to help the responsible units in this task, datos.gob.es has prepared a template for the formulation of the Plan. The aim is to provide guidance on the different elements that such a plan should contain in order to draw up a feasible roadmap for data openness, as well as to enable its monitoring and evaluation.

The following infographic lists the categories included in the template, together with a brief definition (Click on the image to access the infographic).

Accessible version in word

When drawing up the plan, it is important that each of these categories is completed in as much detail as possible. You can download the template document below, which details all of these elements.

A document has also been prepared with guidelines on important issues for the development of the open data initiative that should be taken into account when defining the plan of measures to promote openness and reuse of open data. This includes guidance on:

• Data governance
• The regulatory framework for open data
• The most common conditions for re-use
• High value data
• Metadata to consider
• Measurement indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of an open data initiative.

Click on the button below each document to download it.

Between 2 April and 16 May, applications for the call on aid for the digital transformation of strategic productive sectors may be submitted at the electronic headquarters of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service. Order TDF/1461/2023, of 29 December, modified by Order TDF/294/2024, regulates grants totalling 150 million euros for the creation of demonstrators and use cases, as part of a more general initiative of Sectoral Data Spaces Program, promoted by the State Secretary for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence and framed within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). The objective is to finance the development of data spaces and the promotion of disruptive innovation in strategic sectors of the economy, in line with the strategic lines set out in the Digital Spain Agenda 2026. 

Lines, sectors and beneficiaries

The current call includes funding lines for experimental development projects in two complementary areas of action: the creation of demonstration centres (development of technological platforms for data spaces); and the promotion of specific use cases of these spaces. This call is addressed to all sectors except tourism, which has its own call. Beneficiaries may be single entities with their own legal personality, tax domicile in the European Union, and an establishment or branch located in Spain. In the case of the line for demonstration centres, they must also be associative or representative of the value chains of the productive sectors in territorial areas, or with scientific or technological domains. 

Infographic-summary

The following infographics show the key information on this call for proposals:

Would you like more information? 

• Access to the grant portal for application proposals in the following link. On the portal you will find the regulatory bases and the call for applications, a summary of its content, documentation and informative material with presentations and videos, as well as a complete list of questions and answers. In the mailbox espaciosdedatos@digital.gob.es you will get help about the call and the application procedure. From this portal you can access the electronic office for the application. 
• Quick guide to the call for proposals in pdf + downloadable Infographics (on the Sectoral Data Program and Technical Information)
• Link to other documents of interest:

  • Action plan for the deployment of data spaces by Data Office.

  • How to evaluate and design 'use cases' for data spaces: guides to ease the way 

• Additional information on the data space concept 

The growing importance of data goes beyond the economic and social spheres at state level to a multinational dimension that raises the challenges, opportunities, threats and uncertainties surrounding the development of the Data Economy to a global scale. In the case of the European Union, the issue has been on the institutional agenda in recent years, as evidenced by the profusion of specific and cross-cutting regulations already adopted or in progress; or the promotion of multilateral initiatives both within the framework of the Union and beyond its borders. In July 2022, this global political dimension took a major qualitative leap forward with the adoption by the EU Council of what it called 'Conclusions on EU Digital Diplomacy'Conclusions on EU Digital Diplomacywhich aimed to set out priority actions to strengthen EU action in international digital affairs.

These conclusions - updated in July 2023 - are, in a way, a milestone in that they give the concept of 'digital diplomacy' a legal status. They recognised, on the one hand, the need for "stronger, strategic, coherent and effective" EU policy and action on digital issues; and detailed, on the other hand, priority actions to respond to that need.         

Three ways to engage with third countries

Under the title 'The European Data Strategy from a multidimensional perspectivethe think tank network PromethEUs1 published in June 2023 an analysis that breaks down the European Data Strategy from two main perspectives: the political and regulatory aspects, and the geopolitical aspects.. The analysis of the latter was prepared by Raquel Jorge Ricart of the Real Instituto Elcano, and explains that the EU has been addressing the way in which its goods, services, assets and personal data relate to third countries through various channels:

The analysis of the latter was carried out by the whose researchers explain that the EU has been addressing how its goods, services, assets and personal data relate to third countries through various channels:

1. The regulatory route, which, as they say, "has been closely followed by most stakeholders". 
2. Through multilateral initiatives, "coalitions of the willing" and international meetings.
3. "Through the importance of digital diplomacy, as a policy area to institutionalise the geopolitics of data, along with other technological challenges". In this sense, the term 'digital diplomacy' is used to bring together in a single 'box' all the initiatives that, independently, would have been carried out to date.

Further information on each of these pathways is provided below.

Regulatory pathway

In relation to the regulatory approach, the main challenge for the EU to deploy the regulatory tool as a geopolitical asset lies, according to the Elcano researchers, in influencing other countries to follow the same approach. "It is not just a matter of imposing standards on those who already interact with the EU, but of encouraging others to do the same with theirs," they say. Likewise, they add, "another challenge for the geopolitical instrumentalisation of these regulations is to understand that geopolitical strategies must vary according to the country and the type of technology company", as they may have different geopolitical approaches.

But, the authors conclude, regulation, while important, is not the only approach on which the EU should build its data geopolitics. The other two approaches are as important as they are strategic.

Multilateral initiatives

With regard to international forums for dialogue, the following stand out:

• Those maintained through institutionalised and long-standing organisations and spaces, e.g. G7, UN, OECD, etc.
•  More recently established issue-specific coalitions, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (involving the US, Australia, India and Japan), Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (with Chile, New Zealand and Singapore) or the proposed Data Free Flow with Trust DFFT-2019 (driven by Japan).

Digital diplomacy

Regarding the third approach - the promotion of digital diplomacy - Elcano analysts highlight as positive the various regional technological partnership initiatives that the EU has deployed in recent years, and stress that already in 2019 'the EU began to see technology through the lens of ethics' and as a political and geopolitical issue. In this respect, they underline that the Conclusions of the European Council on Digital Diplomacy (July 2022) are the starting point "with which the EU institutionalised all aspects related to the external agenda in third countries and digital policy as a unique aspect of EU foreign policy". And that is why the goal of digital diplomacy deployed by the EU through its External Action Service is none other than to "secure the EU's global role in the digital world, protect its strategic interests and promote its dynamic and people-centred regulatory framework for an inclusive digital transformation".

The latter is, moreover, a crucial factor, as revealed by the priority actions set out at the initial European Council meeting in July 2022, revised in july 2023. The EU, says the Council, must promote a human rights-based and people-centred digital transformation, which translates, for example, into:

• Regular and thorough" human rights due diligence practices and human rights impact assessments.
• Pay special attention to the protection of the rights of vulnerable or marginalised people.
• Bridging the gender digital divide.
• Promote an open, free, neutral, global, interoperable, reliable and secure Internet.

The Spanish Charter of Digital Rightslaunched in July 2021, and the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decadeare a clear example of the vocation with which the European Union wants to provide itself with an internal or domestic reference, while establishing a shared framework for its action in the field of digital diplomacy.

The EU's challenges

In any case, from the analysis of the different actions established by the EU in this area, the Elcano Institute's researchers identify three major challenges:

1. How to address the role of member states in EU data geopolitics, as most foreign and security policy provisions depend on the unanimity of all 27 countries, and this "may make it difficult for certain activities related to data governance to be approved".
2. How to partner with developing countries "or, particularly, with non-aligned countries", a concept that could be undergoing some revitalisation and which, they argue, "should be an area for further work". The global Gateway initiative would be in this area and, in fact, is one of those that the EU wants to promote by also broadening private sector participation.
3. How to "pay attention to certain technologies that are still underdeveloped, notyetwidely commercialised or not yet deployed, but which could generate a great deal of competition between countries".

In short, the development of digital diplomacy is already a crucial vector in the development of the Data Economy and, in fact, the EU Council will return to this issue before the summer of 2024, two years after the issuing of the Conclusions and one year since the first review. Indeed, until then, the Council "invites the High Representative, the Commission and Member States to assess progress on a regular basis and to continue to report regularly to the Council on the implementation of digital diplomacy". To take its diplomacy to the next level, they stress, "the EU must act with a Team Europe approach - that is, EU institutions and EU member states, together with other partner actors - jointly protecting its strategic interests and promoting its people-centred approach to the digital transition".

Economic security

The aforementioned link between digital diplomacy, the Union's strategic interests and the Data Economy underlies the European Economic Security Strategy a joint communication adopted by the Commission and the High Representative on 20 June 2023.  The strategy is based on a three-pillar approach:

• Promoting the EU's economic base and competitiveness
• Protection against risks
• Partnering with as many countries as possible to address common concerns and interests.

Fostering (competitiveness); preserving (economic security); and cooperating (with each other and with others) are the vectors that the Strategy defines to address the four risks it identifies. Namely:

1. Risks related to the resilience of supply chains.
2. Risks to the physical and cyber security of critical infrastructures.
3. Risks related to technology security and technology leaks.
4. Risks of economic dependencies being used as a weapon or economic coercion.

As a first follow-up to the Strategy, the Commission adopted on 3 October 2023 a Recommendation on critical technology areas for EU economic security, identifying ten critical technology areas, four of which are identified as "highly likely": advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and biotechnologies.

In order to make immediate risk assessments on these areas, the Commission will deploy an intensive dialogue with Member States with results expected by spring 2024. A dialogue in which the Data Economy, with an increasingly relevant weight in European productive ecosystems, will be omnipresent. And Spain, as an international hub and secure destination for information flows and data storage, should pay special attention to aspects such as guaranteeing the correct integration of the different data infrastructures; guaranteeing interoperability between the different actors; and reinforcing its cybersecurity, especially in view of the vulnerability of the supply chain and the need to guarantee effective competition and diversity of suppliers.

Four years after the publication of the European Commission's Communication 'A Data Strategy', the European Commission has published a Communication on the European Commission's 'Data Strategy'A Data Strategy' (February 2020) (February 2020) - setting out the broad outlines of the broad outlines of the European Union's future data economy - the profusion of data-related regulation, the growing importance of open data and the deployment of initiatives of all kinds that have an impact on the development of this area, make it advisable to carry out a review to update the state of the art. This is what the members of the PromethEUs network1 thought, under the title of 'The European Data Strategy from a Multidimensional Perspectivein June 2023, they published an analysis of the European Data Strategy from two main perspectives: political and regulatory aspectson the one hand, and geopolitical aspectson the other. This analysis is complemented by two chapters presenting the economic impact of data-driven innovation and the specific case of the digitisation of the health sector in Southern Europe.

The first of the analyses - produced by the Portuguese Institute for Public Policy-- starts from the main idea that the European Union aspires to create a data-driven economy with citizens at its centre. An objective that will, in part, be achieved by implementing the guidelines followed by legislative acts such as the Regulation on Data Governance (DGA) Regulation and the Data Act (Data Act).

Regulations to consider

In essence, the DGA enables an enabling framework for data exchange, promoting the availability of data and the creation of a reliable and secure environment in which to realise new innovative services and products. Among its main measures, three aspects stand out:

1. More extensive re-use of protected information held by the public sector (with full respect for its privacy and confidentiality).
2. A framework for the promotion of neutral data brokering services, guaranteeing data sovereignty.
3. Mechanisms for the altruistic transfer of data.

The DA aims to establish harmonised rules on fair access and use of data, to address imbalances in contractual relations between providers and users regarding ownership and use of data, to promote interoperability and efficient portability of data, and to ensure minimum conditions for users of data processing services.

Other regulatory texts have a direct or indirect impact on the overall objective described above and interact significantly with both the above-mentioned DGA and DA, as well as with specific sectoral regulations. These include the Open Data Directive (2019), the Digital Bill of Rights (2022), the Digital Markets Actact, the Digital Services Act, or the proposals for the Artificial Intelligence Actfor the aI Liability Directive and for the Gigabit Infrastructure Act. All this without forgetting the decisive impact on this field of both the Personal Data Protection Regulation (2016) and the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002), which will be replaced by the forthcoming Regulation on the same subject.

Effects of the European data strategy

After reviewing the most relevant aspects of this regulation, the PromethEUs document highlights three dimensions in terms of the effects of the European Data Strategy: political, economic and regulatory. Effects, on the other hand, which they expect to be positive overall, although they recognise that there is uncertainty about the associated laws and their practical implementation.

Political dimension

In the policy dimension, the authors highlight the role that both the European Commission and the European Data Innovation Board (EDIB) provided for in Article 29 of the DGA will play. The EDIB has an indispensable co-ordination role which will also have to be deployed in relation to the Member States and the respective competent authorities. In this sense, the authors warn, the lack of coordination can lead to a heterogeneous institutional framework that can delay the implementation of the Strategy. They also recommend the establishment of clear guidelines and even guidelines to prevent possible confusion as to the requirements and possible penalties imposed by states.

Economic dimension

On the economic dimension, the report highlights that the Commission expects a clear positive impact and cites an OECD study that estimates that data access and sharing will generate social and economic benefits of between 0.1 and 1.5% of GDP in the public data sector, rising to between 1 and 2.5% (some studies put it at 4%) in the private sector. The Commission, the document explains, estimates that the increased availability of data for commercial use and innovation among businesses, as well as for consumers and companies using connected products and related services, could generate up to €196.7 billion per year by 2028. The implementation of the DA alone will create up to 2.2 million jobs in the period 2024-2028.

In this sense, and in relation to the Strategy's objective of boosting competitiveness and R&D investment, the authors say that the DGA and the DA should build trust for B2B data sharing; and that the central idea would be for companies not to focus their resources and business model exclusively on the internal maintenance of their data, but on the creation of value through data transformation and combination. Likewise, in relation to SMEs, they point to the need to reduce access barriers and especially compliance costs that may be induced by the DA. Even considering that SMEs are protected in many respects, they explain, such costs can be a setback for many companies. So, they say, while for some it may mean added financial costs, for others it may mean a complete redesign of the company's business models.

Regulatory dimension

Finally, regarding the regulatory dimension, the authors point out that the implementation of the DA and the DGA will require well-trained regulatory bodies for the abundant work that will emanate from them. The creation of effective corps will require, they explain, a significant investment in human resources and skills. They also warn of the risk of overlapping powers between public administrations and regulators in areas such as data protection, cybersecurity, network infrastructure and competition issues. Therefore, they conclude, proper coordination of activities, among other issues, will be of paramount importance.

Indeed, coordination is a key concept at all levels. The evolution of the Data Economy - both at EU level and globally - is linked, whatever the field under analysis, to this essential factor. A factor applicable to how the European Strategy, the real baton that is setting the pace of this process, is implemented and deployed. But it also applies to the way in which the multiple regulations concerned are interrelated and, consequently, to the essential harmonised action of the authorities and bodies that apply them in their respective areas of competence. In short, a coordination that, like the conductor's virtuoso baton, allows for a successful execution of the score. A score - the European Strategy - that translates into the vigorous melody that the Data Economy promises, as already demonstrated by the indicators and records that outline its unstoppable evolution.       

A data space is the place where value is generated around data through voluntary sharing in an environment of sovereignty, trust and security. The data space enables you to determine who accesses what data and under what conditions, thus facilitating the deployment of different use cases to meet different business needs. The data space functions as an open and heterogeneous environment of providers and consumers of data products, with no dominant players and no disproportionate barriers to entry and exit.

The data space is the place for sustainable value generation around data, a catalyst for innovation and business growth, allowing to identify market opportunities, anticipate trends, make better informed decisions, increase operational efficiency, develop transformative products and services or personalise customer experiences.

Within the concept of data space, and beyond a bilateral exchange of information, there is room for both centralised environments of information aggregation and generation of value-added services, with or without financial compensation, and more innovative data sharing environments (typically federated and distributed). The former can be seen as fundamental building blocks for the latter, and in any case, full interoperability of the deployed solutions and their future scalability should be sought.

The data space is the ideal scenario for deploying a variety of advanced technologies to efficiently explore data sets and turn them into information. This creates an environment conducive to innovation and process optimisation, resulting in a landscape in which information becomes a strategic resource for growth and informed decision-making. The data space enables the use of advanced analytics tools (business intelligence, big data, machine learning, deep learning, etc.), generative algorithms (LLM, GPT), process automation (RPA), and/or advanced data preservation techniques (DLTs).

In practice, a data provider (formally incorporated in the corresponding data space) will make its data products accessible through a catalogue, managed according to the indications of the data space promoter. When a participant wishes to access a product, it will look for the availability of such information, studying its conditions of access and use, as well as the appropriateness of its semantics and vocabulary. If the characteristics detailed in the catalogue meet his/her expectations, he/she will establish the appropriate negotiation and proceed to establish an effective transfer between supplier and consumer, in accordance with the technical conditions set out in the catalogue.

What does the data space offer to each type of participant?

There are four types of participants in a data space:

1)    Data space promoter:

It is the driver of the sharing and operating environment, and will therefore be responsible for its governance and management (and may delegate some operational parts). It will therefore be the guarantor of the generation of community around the data space, articulating different business models and seeking and attracting new participants, thus dynamising innovation and the development of new value-added services.

Different business models can be generated within the data space. These include:

• Monetisation of data on a bilateral basis.
• Markets as a meeting point between suppliers and consumers.
• The marketing of software products or services for data analysis and exploitation.
• The facilitation of technological solutions to mediate the identification of participants or the exchange between them.
• The development of industrial platforms integrating the value chain.
• Making data openly available altruistically.

2) Providers of data sets and services:

They offer  data products (both sets and services) within the contours of rights and obligations defined by the data space developer .

Thanks to cybersecurity and the sovereignty capabilities it provides, the barriers and risks associated with sharing are lowered, thus facilitating the generation of value and the return on the investment involved in making resources available. Moreover, the technological uncertainties linked to the deployment of innovative business models are partially mitigated by the use of standard frameworks and solutions (provided by the technology specifier and the technology provider, respectively).

Providers of data sets and services can opt for different revenue generation models, such as:

• Provide free access to the data, thus seeking to generate a high volume of traffic to attract sponsors or advertisers.
• Deploy a type of freemiun access free of charge for specific data and services, but at a cost for specific or higher quality services and data.
• Establish temporary or continuous licensing agreements.
• Define dynamic costing systems linked to timely demand or complexity of access
• Deploy a collaborative sharing system where access to other people's data is linked to sharing one's own data ( quid-pro-quomodel).

3) Consumers of data sets and services:

They consume data products within the contours of rights and obligations defined by the data space developer.

It allows them to benefit by incorporating the value of third-party data (from different suppliers) into their system by consolidating or combining it with their own data. The information and knowledge generated from this shared data makes it possible to solve business problems that would be unmanageable on an individual basis, adding value to the business itself.

The value proposition of the data consumer can go through:

• Acting on one's own behalf, for personal consumption and profit.
• Acting as a data broker, connecting organisations with fewer resources or maturity, and thus offering trust.
• It plays the role of a reuser, which is able to generate value-added services on the data space by reworking the information provided.

Precisely in the sense of risk mitigation and confidence building, the use of standard solutions (provided by the technology provider of the data space, which we will see below) serves to ensure service levels(business continuity) and the reduction of technological risks, as well as to avoid registration on multiple platforms or the management of complex and diverse authorisation and access processes.

4) Technology provider:

It is in charge of integrating and operating the technical solution that enables the deployment of the data space infrastructure (on behalf of, under the governance and management of the developer). This provider will carry out the development, configuration and parameterisation to implement the technical solution to deploy the data space, practically as a service ready for consumption. For this purpose, a basic physical infrastructure will be used, on top of which technological components will be added to enable adequate management of participants' identities, as well as all other functionalities that characterise the data space in question (and which will typically follow a reference architecture).

The provider will therefore make precise use of different enabling technologies for the governance and management of the data space, from the deployment of privacy-enhancing technologies to ensure the proper treatment of protected information, to tools to automate contractual compliance and guarantee sovereignty.

It is important to note that this figure of the "data space technology provider" does not coincide with that of the data technology service provider within the already operational data space itself. The former deploys and operates the technologies necessary to shape the ecosystem, within which the latter operates, offering ad-hoc solutions (which could in any case include the former organisation, as permitted by the competition regulations of the sector in which the data space operates, as well as its specific governance).

Data has become the great transforming power of society. Beyond the more mercantilist view, its capacity to generate knowledge, drive innovation and empower individuals and communities is undeniable. Indeed, it is a resource with which to address, from an innovative perspective, major environmental, social and health challenges, enabling collaboration between actors, driving innovation and improving accountability.

Following European guidelines such as the European Data Strategy, the challenge now is to promote the circulation of data for the benefit of all, by pooling data in key sectors with the creation of  common and interoperabledata spaces. A data space is an ecosystem where the voluntary sharing of its participants' data takes place within an environment of sovereignty, trust and security, established through integrated governance, organisational, regulatory and technical mechanisms. Data spaces are key to the development of the data economy, enabling access, exchange and legitimate re-use, positioning data as a non-rivalrous resource, whose utility grows as its use becomes more widespread, in a clear example of the network effect.

What are the Coordinated Support Actions (CSA)?

In order to foster the development of data spaces, the European Commission's Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is funding a series of Coordinated Support Actions (CSA) to foster their development. Most of these actions have a funding of around one million euros per project and a duration of approximately one year, with an expected completion date in the fourth quarter of 2023. Their results should contribute to the objectives of the DIGITAL programme, which aims to bridge the gap between research and deployment of digital technologies, and to facilitate the transfer of research results to the market, to the benefit of European citizens and businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones.

Each concrete action focuses on a particular sector of economic activity seeking, based on a mapping of the data landscape of each sector concerned, to contact and connect relevant stakeholders, seeking to collaboratively develop a shared strategic roadmap. This shared roadmap ultimately aims to eventually build up the corresponding sectoral data spacesin subsequent phases. During the process, clear objectives and key results are defined to inspire, support and motivate all stakeholders to contribute and use high quality sectoral data as a basis for innovation and value generation.

In order to carry out this roadmap, a comprehensive inventory of existing platforms that already share relevant data has been drawn up. In addition, each CSA project has focused, through different working groups and stakeholder workshops, on developing recommendations on governance models for data spaces and digital business models for their sector. The aim is to identify key success factors and outline how a data space can create value and benefits not only for the sector in question but also for other sectors with which it is interlinked. In addition, plans to address the technical and organisational challenges that drive the use of interoperability standards are made in the different projects in close collaboration with the Data Spatial Support Centre (DSSC) in order to align with the European Technological Framework for Data Spaces.

Where can I find up-to-date information on CSAs?

Concrete information on the state of play of the different coordination and support actions can be found on their websites through the following links:

	DATES (Tourism)
	Tourism Data Space (Tourism)
	DS4SKills (Skills)
	PrepDSpace4Mobility (Mobility)
	AgriDataSpace (Agri-food)
	Great (Environmental)
	DataSp4ce (Industrial)
	DS4SSCC (Smarts Cities)

The outcome of these coordinated support actions will provide the information and the basis for the correct execution of the projects for the development and implementation (\"deployments\") of the Common European Data Spaces, which will be supported by different European programmes. This will catalyse the creation of a single data market, based on reliable and quality data, which will enable the digitisation of industries' value chains. Moreover, its effective development will support the European Union's objectives of achieving a green transition and a digital transformation, and of strengthening its resilience and strategic autonomy.

Building Europe's digital infrastructure of tomorrow

As a global technology race unfolds, Europe is deploying the regulatory framework and investments needed to foster innovation and technological leadership in areas such as online platforms, artificial intelligence, data, cloud, quantum technologies and virtual worlds. In today's rapidly changing economic context, a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure is a key pillar for growth, innovation and job creation.

For this technological revolution to succeed, says EC Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, it must be ensured that European networks are up to the task in terms of transmission speed, storage capacity, computing power and interoperability. To this end, it will seek to promote a Digital Networks Act that will serve to redefine the DNA of Europe's telecommunications sector.

Exploratory consultation on the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure

From 23 February to 19 May 2023, the European Commission conducted an exploratory consultation on the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure. The aim was to gather views from different stakeholders, in particular on the technological and market changes affecting the sector, as well as the types of infrastructure and investments that Europe is expected to need to lead the digital transformation in the coming years. The consultation was divided into four areas: (i) technological and market developments, (ii) fairness for consumers, (iii) barriers to the single market and (iv) fair contribution of all digital actors.

The Commission received close to 500 responses to the consultation from different interest groups such as companies (including network providers as well as large traffic generators), business associations, citizens, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, consumer organisations and trade unions, as well as comments from public authorities. Most of the responses came from the EU, although there were also participants from other invited countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

From the exploratory consultation on the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• The need for innovation and efficient investment in technologies such as network virtualisation, artificial intelligence, open networks and perimeter cloud (in that order of importance), recognising that these will have a substantial impact on the sector in the coming years by driving cost reductions. Network virtualisation is expected to be the technology with the greatest impact by enabling greater flexibility and improved network efficiency, offering a great opportunity to develop new business models. In terms of investment, most respondents expect that a significant part of their annual revenues in the coming years (up to 50% of revenues) will have to be spent on investments in connectivity infrastructure and replacement of devices from providers considered high risk. Public funding is seen as crucial, but questions remain as to whether it will be enough and how to attract more private investment.
• The second conclusion, relating to consumer equity, is that the majority of respondents indicate that overall broadband access prices will decrease in the coming years, although there is more discrepancy when considering high transmission speeds. There is also no consensus among respondents on the effectiveness/efficiency of the Universal Service Obligation rules to protect consumers with special needs, and there is also disagreement on whether it should continue to be financed by the public budget or by network providers.
• It also points to the importance of harnessing the single market to drive investment and innovation, cooperating on key technology developments, and standardising technologies and platform building, so as to support the deployment of initiatives based on federated, interoperable and open source models. The majority of responses indicate that streamlining and simplifying regulation by harmonising best practices at EUlevel would serve to reduce administrative burdens, supply chain and/or regulatory costs, thereby increasing efficiency and speed of infrastructure deployment.
• The fourth conclusion focuses on the need to protect EU networks. In an interconnected world with growing geopolitical tensions, security is critical. Despite advances in the security of 5G networks, gaps remain in the protection of network infrastructure. A more coordinated European approach, especially with regard to further integration of radio spectrum, and with a better aligned auction model and licensing conditions between regions, could improve coverage in border areas and strengthen the EU against harmful external interference.
• Finally, as regards the contribution of digital players to network roll-out, several telco providers anticipate a negative outlook for the next 5 years, driven by the continued fall in unit prices (in terms of EUR/Mbps), which offset the potential revenues from increased data traffic and, therefore, to the detriment of the investments needed to support such traffic. More than half of the respondents answered in the affirmative on the question of whether large digital players should contribute in a fair and proportionate way to the costs of public goods, services and infrastructure, and on the potential introduction of a mandatory mechanism for direct payments from content application providers.

The role of communications networks in the development of data spaces

The data spaces are ecosystems from which to realise the voluntary sharing of data among their participants, based on the creation of an environment of sovereignty, trust and cybersecurity. In contrast to traditional monolithic models, data spaces are virtual, federated environmentsand are therefore established through integrated governance, organisational, regulatory and technical mechanisms.

Data spaces ensure that a large amount of data and algorithms are available for use in the economy and society, while the companies, organisations and individuals that generate these resources retain control over them. As such, these data sets and algorithms will aspire to maintain their residence in the computer systems of their respective owners, connecting with others on an ad hoc basis according to precise needs, which is why data spaces require a renewed infrastructure of communication networks. Based on 5G (or even 6G) technology, data transmission with lower latency and higher capacity is enabled, and also drives the development of edge computing solutions (edge computing), which allow added flexibility for the emerging European Data Economy.

Likewise, operators, through initiatives such as Open Gateway, will also be able to transform their telecommunication networks into value-added platforms, making their capabilities more flexible and available through standardised APIs, with which to develop new applications and digital solutions of greater complexity and scope. Such developments may encourage the participation, collaboration and interoperability of the different actors in the data spaces, with telecommunications operators also playing an important role as facilitators, not only in the development of use cases, but also in the implementation and operation of these use cases.

ASEDIE, Asociación Multisectorial de la Información, will hold its usual International Conference on the Reuse of Public Sector Information on December 13. This will be its 15th edition and the central theme is 'Learning from the past, we build the future of data'. The aim of the meeting is to address the interaction that exists between the different regulations that coexist in the data ecosystem, analyze the most significant barriers identified by the sector and discuss solutions. 

When and where will it be held?  

The event, which will be held in classroom format on December 13, 2023 at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, in the Salón de Grados of the Departmental Building (Paseo de los Artilleros, Madrid). The reception of attendees begins at 9:00 and the event will end at 13:10. 

What is the program?  

The focus of this edition will be on collective learning, taking as a reference the steps taken so far in the world of data and in the construction of the future of the sector.   

The session will open at 9:40 am with the inauguration of the event by the President of ASEDIE, Ignacio Jiménez and the Director of Public Governance of the Ministry of Finance and Public Function, Ms. Clara Mapelli to give way to the intervention of Carlos Romero, Advisor for Digital Transformation at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union. 

The event will feature two round tables:  

•  The first table will take place at 10:00 and will deal with 'The data economy in search of a coherent regulation'. It will be attended by Santiago Graña, Deputy Director General of Planning and Governance of the Digital Administration; Joaquín Meseguer, Technical Advisor at the Madrid City Council; Lorenzo Avello, Deputy Director General of Telecommunications Management; and Mercedes Ortuño, Advisory Member of the Deputy Directorate General of Promotion and Authorizations of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). It will be moderated by Casilda Lazcano, president of ASEDIE's Legal Commission.  

• The second round table, at 12:00h, will focus on the future under the title 'Open data in time perspective: 2024 and beyond'. Participants will include Carmen de Pablos Heredero, Professor of Business Organization at the URJC; Agustín T. de Villar Iglesias, Deputy Director of the Information Infrastructure Area of the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia; and Fernando de Pablo Martín, Director General of the Digital Office of the Madrid City Council. 

In between, at 11:00 a.m., the ASEDIE 2023 Awards will be presented in two categories.   

• The finalists in the category Driving the Data Economy are: the Data Office, for the generation of data of proven quality from an effective and standardized government; the City Council of Zaragoza, with its project Know and explore Zaragoza; and the Generalitat de Catalunya, for the classification of datasets by the Sustainable Development Goals.  

• In the category Promoting data knowledge, the finalist initiatives are the Data Management Summit, an event that promotes data knowledge, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, for the standard ordinance on data governance in municipal entities, and the Geographic Institute of Aragon for ICEARAGON, with the project on spatial knowledge of the region.   

After the awards ceremony, Conchita Cornejo, Coordinator of the area of the General Secretariat for Inspection and Control of Capital Movements, and Emilio López, Director of the National Center for Geographic Information, will intervene. 

You can consult the complete program here.  

How can I register?  

Attendance is in person with limited capacity and registrations can be made on the ASEDIE website. 

Two of the European Union's most relevant data regulations will soon articulate the legal contours that will delineate the development of the data economy in the coming years. The Data Governance Act (DGA) has been fully applicable since September 24, 2023, while the wording of the Data Act (DA) was approved on November 27. 

They are not the only ones, as the legal framework already includes other important rules that regulate interconnected matters, thus revealing the proactive approach of the European Union in establishing rules of the game in line with the needs of European citizens and businesses. These guidelines provide the necessary legal security environment to achieve the ultimate goal of promoting a European Digital Single Market.  

 In the case of the DGA and the DA, the negotiations for their approval have shown that their objectives were shared by the stakeholders concerned. For both, data is a central element for digital transformation, and they share an interest in eliminating or reducing the barriers and obstacles to its sharing. They thus assume that data-driven innovation will bring enormous benefits to citizens and the economy. Therefore, creating legal frameworks that facilitate such processes is a common goal for companies, institutions and citizens. 

The contributions from the academic, business and associative worlds have been abundant and enriching, both for the drafting phase of the standards and for what will be their implementation and development in practice. One of the most reiterated questions is the concern about how the different standards of this 'digital regulatory package' will interact. Particularly important is the interaction with the General Data Protection Regulation, which is why DGA and DA have established general guidelines on the pre-eminence of said regulation in case of conflict. In this regard, the increase in regulation does not prevent specific situations from arising in practice around key concepts in the field of personal data, such as consent, purposes of processing, anonymization, or portability. 

Another of the issues highlighted has to do with the search for synergies between this regulation and current or future data business models. The recognized overall goal is to boost the development of data spaces and the data economy as a whole. This goal will be closer to the extent that the 'regulatory burden' does not reduce the incentives for companies to invest in collecting and managing data; that it does not weaken the competitive position of European companies (by adequately protecting trade secrets, intellectual property rights and confidentiality); and that there is an appropriate balance between general and business interests. 

The case of the Data Governance Act  

In the case of the DGA, the provisions related to data brokering services ––one of the central parts of the regulation–– occupied a significant part of the previous analyses carried out. For example, the question was raised as to what extent SMEs and start-ups could compete with large technology companies in the provision of these services; or whether, by requiring the structural separation required of data brokering service providers (through a separate legal entity), there could be problems related to other functionalities of the same companies.    

Along the same lines, the question arises as to whether a more decentralized data economy requires new intermediaries, or whether under the new legal formulation, they can successfully compete in data markets through alternative, non-vertically integrated business models. 

Considerations on the deployment of the Data Act  

With regard to the DA, the final wording of the regulation clarified its scope, the definition of concepts and the categorization of data, as suggested by the industry. The specific sectoral application to be developed subsequently will further define those concepts and interpretations that provide the desirable legal certainty.  

This legal certainty has also been argued in relation to trade secrets, intellectual property rights and confidentiality; an aspect that the Regulation seeks to address with safeguards aimed at preventing misuse and fraud. 

Other aspects that attracted attention were compensation for making data available; dispute resolution procedures; provisions on unfair contract terms (aimed at compensating for imbalances in bargaining power); making data available in case of exceptional need; and, finally, provisions on switching from one data processing service provider to another.  

 A positive starting point  

The starting point, in any case, is positive. The data economy in the European Union is taking hold on the basis of the European Data Strategy and the regulatory package that develops it. There are also practical examples of the potential of the industrial ecosystems that are being deployed around the Common European Data Spaces in sectors such as tourism, mobility and logistics, and agri-food, among others. In addition, initiatives that bring together public and private interests in this area are making significant progress in the deployment of technical and governance foundations, strengthening the competitive position of European companies, and achieving the ultimate goal of a single data market in the European Union. 

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The new UNE 0081 Data Quality Assessment specification, focused on data as a product (datasets or databases), complements the UNE 0079 Data Quality Management specification, which we analyse in this article, and focuses on data quality management processes. Both standards 0079 and 0081 complement each other and address data quality holistically:

• The UNE 0079 standard refers to the processes, the activities that the organisation must carry out to guarantee the appropriate levels of quality of its data to satisfy the strategy that the organisation has set itself.
• On the other hand, UNE 0081 defines a data quality model, based on ISO/IEC 25012 and ISO/IEC 25024, which details the quality characteristics that data can have, as well as some applicable metrics. It also defines the process to be followed to assess the quality of a particular dataset, based on ISO/IEC 25040. Finally, the specification details how to interpret the results obtained from the evaluation, showing concrete examples of application.

How can an organisation make use of this specification to assess the quality level of its data?

To answer this question, we will use the example of the Vistabella Town Council, previously used in previous articles. The municipality has a number of data sets, the quality of which it wants to evaluate in order to improve them and provide a better service to citizens. The institution is aware that it works with many types of data (transactional, master, reference, etc.), so the first thing it does is to first identify the data sets that provide value and for which not having adequate levels of quality may have repercussions on the day-to-day work. Some criteria to follow when selecting these sets can be: data that provide value to the citizen, data resulting from a data integration process or master view of the data, critical data because they are used in several processes/procedures, etc.

The next step will be to determine at which point(s) in the lifecycle of the municipality's operational processes these data quality checks will be performed.

This is where the UNE 0081 specification comes into play. The evaluation is done on the basis of the "business rules" that define the requirements, data requirements or validations that the data must meet in order to provide value to the organisation. Some examples are shown below:

• Citizens' ID cards will have to comply with the specific syntax for this purpose (8 numbers and one letter).
• Any existing date in the system shall follow the notation DD-MM-YYYYYY.
• Records of documentation dated after the current date will not be accepted.
• Traceability of who has made a change to a dataset and when.

In order to systematically and comprehensively identify the business rules that data has to comply with at each stage of its lifecycle, the municipality uses a methodology based on BR4DQ.

The municipality then reviews all the data quality characteristics included in the specification, prioritises them, and determines a first set of data quality characteristics to be taken into account for the evaluation. For this purpose, and in this first stage, the municipality decided to stick exclusively to the 5 inherent characteristics of ISO 25012 defined within the specification. These are: accuracy, completeness, consistency, credibility and timeliness.

Similarly, for each of these first characteristics that have been agreed to be addressed, possible properties are identified. To this end, the municipality finally decided to work with the following quality model, which includes the following characteristics and properties:

At this point, the municipality has identified the dataset to be assessed, as well as the business rules that apply to it, and which aspects of quality it will focus on (data quality model). Next, it is necessary to carry out data quality measurement through the validation of business rules. Values for the different metrics are obtained and computed in a bottom-up approach to determine the level of data quality of the repository

Definition of the evaluation process

In order to carry out the assessment in an appropriate way, it is decided to make use of the quality assessment process based on ISO 25024, indicated in the UNE 0081 specification (see below).

Implementation of the evaluation process

The following is a summary of the most noteworthy aspects carried out by the City Council during stage 4 of the evaluation process:

1. Validation of the degree of compliance with each business rule by property: Having all the business rules classified by property, the degree of compliance with each of them is validated, thus obtaining a series of values for each of the metrics. This is run on each of the data sets to be evaluated.

As an example, for the syntactic accuracy property, two metrics are obtained:

1. Number of records that comply with the syntactic correctness business rules: 826254
2. Number of records that must comply with the syntactic correctness business rules: 850639

2. Quantification of the value of the property: From these metrics, the value of the property is quantified and determined using the measurement function specified in the UNE 0081 specification. For the specific case of syntactic accuracy, it is determined that a record density of 97.1% complies with all syntactic accuracy rules.
3. Calculation of the characteristic value: This is done by making use of the results of each of the data quality metrics associated with a property. To calculate it, and as specified in the UNE 0081 specification, it is decided to follow a weighted sum in which each property has the same weight. In the case of Accuracy, Syntactic Accuracy values are available: 97.1, Semantic accuracy: 95, and Accuracy range: 92.9. Computing these 3 scores, a value of 95 out of 100 was obtained for this characteristic.
4. Shift from quantitative to qualitative value: In order to provide a final quality result, it is decided to use another weighted sum; in this case, all dimensions have the same weight. Based on the above aggregated results of the above characteristics: Accuracy: 95, Completeness: 87, Consistency: 90, Credibility: 88, News: 93, a quality level of 90 out of 100 is determined for the repository. Finally, it is necessary to move from this quantitative value of 0 to 100 to a qualitative value. In this particular example, using the percentage-based quality level function, it is concluded that the quality level of the repository, for the analysed property, is 4, or "Very Good".

Results visualisation

Finally, once the evaluation of all the characteristics has been carried out, the municipality builds a series of data quality control dashboards with different levels of aggregation (characteristic, property, dataset and table/view) based on the results of the evaluation, so that the level of quality can be quickly consulted. For this purpose, results at different levels of aggregation are shown as an example.

As can be seen throughout the application example, there is a direct relationship between the application of this UNE 0081 specification, with certain parts of the 0078 specification, specifically with the data requirements management process, and with the  UNE 0079specification, at least with the data planning and quality control processes. As a result of the evaluation, recommendations for quality improvement (corrective actions) will be established, which will have a direct impact on the established data processes, all in accordance with Deming's PDCA continuous improvement circle.

Once the example has been completed, and as an added value, it should be noted that it is possible to certify the level of data quality of organisational repositories. This will require a certification body to provide this data quality service, as well as an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory with the power to issue data quality assessment reports.

The content of this guide can be downloaded freely and free of charge from the AENOR portal through the link below by accessing the purchase section. Access to this family of UNE data specifications is sponsored by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Directorate General for Data. Although the download requires prior registration, a 100% discount on the total price is applied at the time of finalizing the purchase. After finalizing the purchase, the selected standard or standards can be accessed from the customer area in “my products” section.

Content prepared by Dr. Fernando Gualo, Professor at UCLM and Data Governance and Quality Consultant.The content and the point of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of its author.