Data Spaces Support Centre

Expected Outcome and Deliverables

This action will result in the continuation of the operation of the Data Spaces Support Centre. The Centre will continue to coordinate, support, and promote all relevant initiatives related to sectoral data spaces. It will provide essential blueprints, technologies, processes, standards, and tools necessary for the effective deployment, operation, and interconnection of these data spaces, ensuring their seamless integration and functionality across various sectors. It will ensure that key stakeholders from data spaces are involved in these activities.

Objective

The objective is to identify a consortium that will assure the continuation of the Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC). The DSSC coordinates all relevant actions on Common European Data Spaces to ensure that they develop in a coherent way, are interoperable and benefit from economies of scale by the use of common practices, components (referred to as ‘building blocks’), protocols and tools (e.g., software implementations or services implementing the building blocks mentioned above that are considered fit to purpose). The aim is to support the development, proper functioning and interconnection of data spaces to facilitate secure and trusted data sharing and reuse within and across sectors, benefiting both the public sector and European businesses, particularly SMEs.

Additionally, the DSSC supports the work of the European Data Innovation Board (EDIB) e.g., by identifying cross-sector standards for data use and sharing, by conducting comparative analyses across sectors, and by highlighting best practices related to security and access to data, all while considering sector-specific standardization efforts. In order to ensure alignment with sectoral initiatives, the DSSC will work in close cooperation with the key stakeholders in the data spaces.

Scope

The Support Centre will include three main work strands:

1. Community Building

The first work strand aims to maintain and enlarge the network of stakeholders.

• Fostering a community of practice focused on data sharing.
• Engaging participants from projects supported by the EU, especially those funded by the EU.
• Engaging with projects deploying data spaces at European level and that might serve as showcase.

A particular attention should be given to startups and SMEs in order to facilitate access and participation in data spaces.

2. Governance and Infrastructure Requirements

In collaboration with the stakeholder network, the second work strand focuses on:

• Promoting the use of common solutions for data infrastructure across sectoral data spaces, covering technical design, functionality, operation, governance and legal aspects.
• Identifying standards, including semantic standards and interoperability protocols (both domain-specific and crosscutting).
• Engaging in standards development initiatives, where needed, to ensure data space requirements are supported.
• Exploring potential synergies between data spaces and coordinate cross-cutting exchanges among them.
• Promoting data governance models, business strategies, and operational approaches for running data spaces.
• Addressing legal issues and other market-relevant barriers.
• Identifying opportunities for value added services.

3. Platform for knowledge sharing and support

The third work strand will focus on the maintenance and development of the DSSC.EU platform which will act as a central hub for knowledge sharing, stakeholder support and the development of data spaces. It will provide resources, promote best practices, and allow to connect stakeholders across various initiatives. The platform will also include a customer support centre function, allowing stakeholders to easily get into contact with the DSSC for specific support requests.

The Data Spaces Support Centre addresses a wide range of stakeholders involved in the creation, maintenance, and governance of common European data spaces. It aims to create a collaborative environment where these diverse stakeholders can work together to establish common data spaces that are secure, interoperable, and trustworthy. These stakeholders include European organisations from different sectors:

• Private: Businesses and industries that can benefit from data sharing and interoperability as well as software and technologies providers that can offer solutions for the deployment of data spaces.
• Public: Government agencies and public administrations that manage and use data for public services.
• Academia: Research institutions and universities that contribute to the development of data space technologies and standards.
• Civil Society: Non-governmental organizations and community groups that advocate the use of data in a secure and trusted manner.