Twelve Fraunhofer-Institutes have spent the past two years working on a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) dealing with the current issue of data sovereignity.
They recently completed the first phase of the project, in which a reference architecture model for a secure data space has been defined, based on the latest IT technologies, and the first cross-sector use cases have been implemented. Now this pre-competitive research project, for which the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has granted funding of five million euros, is ready to move on to its second phase.
The next project goal is to carve out a position for the Industrial Data Space in relation to and in interaction with other reference architectures, such as those being developed by the Industrial Internet Consortium in the United States or the Japanese Industrial Value Chain Initiative – because, in today’s global supply chains, the flow of data is not restricted to a single country and companies therefore need integrated, cross-border solutions.
Data sovereignty made in Germany is a popular concept,” comments Prof. Boris Otto, director of the Industrial Data Space project, member oft he Industrial Data Space Association´s board and director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST. “We are currently in discussions with partners in many countries, including Argentina, China, India, Japan, Mexico and the United States, with the goal of establishing the Industrial Data Space architecture on an international basis.”
To ensure interoperability with the many different digital standards in use around the world, the project teams are developing technological blueprints for data sovereignty solutions. Fraunhofer researchers are working closely with the Industrial Data Space Association to apply their results in the form of use cases for partner companies.
