Dataspace

October 14, 2024 Big Data

€829 billion: by 2025, that's the value the data-driven economy is expected to be worth in the European Union. To maintain this trend by facilitating the secure data exchange between organizations, dataspaces have become a cornerstone of the European Commission's strategy. But are all organizations ready to embark on this journey? As a founding member of GAIA-X and the Association for Data Intermediation (AID) and a pioneer in the field with Agriconsent, Orange Business shares five key questions to ask yourself before taking the plunge.

Dataspace vs datalake

Unlike a datalake, which copies data into a single silo, a dataspace is an environment where different data sources can be organized and interconnected, with the data remaining under the owner's control. The dataspace enables data to be secured, managed and analyzed in a consistent way, even if it comes from different systems.

Data exchanges are traced and secured between players through a trusted digital environment.

Source: A Digital Future for Europe, Council of the European Union, February 2024

1. What is the common interest in its ecosystem?

The first prerequisite of a dataspace project is that all the players in a given sector (private groups, public entities, start-ups, SMEs, research institutes, etc.) have a common vision and interests. Whether it’s energy efficiency in industry, making the most of Earth Observation data in space or understanding audiences in the media: the common benefits are encouraging collaboration, even between competitors, and helping to overcome the fear of losing control of one's data.

Gaia-X, a European initiative with Orange as one of the 22 founders, aims to strengthen trust around dataspaces by federating interoperable cloud ecosystems. Data is shared within secure digital environments, with users retaining control over access to and use of their data. The aim is to create "digital commons" that will ultimately strengthen every sector of activity.

"To invest in a dataspace project, companies must share common issues such as the fight against climate change and competition from other continents."

Antoine Maisonneuve, Head of New Product Development, Orange Business

2. Are sector-specific use cases being identified?

Each sector has its own use cases. In the agricultural industry, for example, data sharing can be used to ensure food traceability and to share best practices in cultivation and breeding. Orange Business has developed the Agdatahub platform with these needs in mind, developing a decentralized digital-identity system based on a blockchain infrastructure and hosted on a secure public cloud. With Agdatahub, farmers can link their identity to their farm's identity to guarantee the reliability, security and traceability of the data exchanges they have agreed to.

"Agdatahub's development has been driven not only by the public sector, but also by major players in the European agricultural field. This includes some 2,000 organizations and 390,000 farmers just in France! This desire to regain control of agricultural data has led to several use cases, such as improved product traceability, which is also of interest to other sectors, such as mass retailing."

Alain Berry, Director for Dataspace Projects & Space Business Development, Orange Business

3. Is the data of all organizations standardized?

Once we know which data to exchange and which "business model" to adopt, we still need to agree on a common language. Not all data-generating systems are interoperable, while data typologies, organization, or processing language remain heterogeneous. An additional reason is to develop European programs subsidizing dataspace projects that include data harmonization work. Data exchange tools, such as those offered by Orange Business, make it possible to create these common catalogs.

"Everyone in a dataspace must speak the same language. In parallel with Agdatahub, the agricultural industry has been working to standardize and harmonize its data in common catalogs."

Antoine Maisonneuve

4. How should dataspace be governed?

A sustainable dataspace project relies on a trusted digital environment, i.e., the alliance of various players and the involvement of technical partners who ensure its reliability. Initiatives such as Gaia-X bring together cloud service providers and a wide range of users: we are developing dataspaces alongside Dawex, AFP, France Télévisions and Prometheus-X.

"These projects are often governed by an independent third party with strong technical skills capable of setting up and technically managing the dataspace. Orange Business, as a sector leader, must monitor standards, use cases and data security."

Alain Berry

5. Who is entitled to access the data?

European dataspaces meet a need for data sovereignty to avoid both leaks between competitors and data capture by "Big Tech" actors. The dataspace pilots must therefore provide sufficiently secure services to ensure user identification, obtain their consent to share this data and guarantee the integrity, security and traceability of this data. Ensuring that everyone has control over their own data means ensuring that the benefits of sharing are equal between participants.

"Dataspace creates a market between those who own the data and those who need it. It’s essential that sharing and value creation are equitable. This is how the project benefits everyone, even in a competitive environment."