Data space for media (deployment)

Outcomes and deliverables

The project will deliver an infrastructure hosted in cloud spaces where data are securely stored. Tools for media data transaction preserving data ownership, tools for data analytics and services for financial transactions based on the data usage (e.g. using blockchain) and services for Mixed, Augmented and Virtual Reality content creation (including AI elements) should also be included as well as tools enabling European citizens to find media content available online based on their preferences and interests and to better understand sentiments and perspective of other Europeans.

The data infrastructure for media will enhance Europe’s digital autonomy and strengthen forms of citizens’ participation in the public sphere. It will boost the use of data for innovative content (both entertainment and news), production and distribution.

The Media and Audiovisual Action Plan is developed around three areas: recovery, transformation, and enabling and empowerment. Its Action 4 aims to foster innovation through the creation of a media data space to encourage and support media companies in sharing data and developing innovative solutions and encouraging new business models.

The objective is to respond to the challenge of boosting innovation and mobilize the media industry and provide a strong support for the creation of a European data space able to foster the competitiveness of the European media sector. Such a data infrastructure will be used to boost the use of data for innovative content (entertainment, education and news), and for innovative production and distribution.

That data should be available to both public service media and commercial media operators, whether large or small, start-ups or established players. In this context, establishing European media data spaces can change the way in which creators, producers and distributors can collaborate.

The data space will be open to companies from other sectors for mutually advantageous data based cooperation which could open new opportunities for the media sector. This will enable media companies to join forces and regain competitiveness in the face of online platforms.

As for all the data spaces, the objective is the creation of a technical infrastructure combined with governance mechanisms that will ensure easy, cross-border access to key datasets in the targeted area.

The data space will provide the whole media value chain with an advanced and shared data infrastructure. This data infrastructure will be tested by means of the creation of innovative solutions for the production, curation, circulation and distribution of media content, and in particular through new platforms for quality content, across the Union.

The key elements for data spaces are the sharing of a wide variety of data such as content, user consumption and audience data, 3D animation models, or production meta-data. The data spaces will also facilitate access to computing resources for creative SMEs. Furthermore, data can provide valuable insight to services aiming at increasing the findability of media content (news and entertainment content) across borders. Such services can play a pivotal role in providing new resources for the media industry and supporting the creation of a European public sphere. Likewise, further creative industries and other industrial sectors (such as retail or automotive) could potentially make use of the media data space to generate additional value and open new markets for the media.

Synergies with the work done by the European Digital Media Observatory and its national hubs for online content distribution and findability will also be established. The data space will provide a sandbox environment and interface services to foster pilots for and host innovative media services developed through initiatives other than Digital Europe such as Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.

The project selected for the deployment of this data space will have to make use and be in full compliance with the European Data Spaces Technical Framework. It will also have to coordinate and collaborate with other projects participating in the deployment of the data space and the Data Spaces Support Centre in order to allow integration of existing standards and to ensure interoperability and portability across infrastructure, applications and data.