The German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Peter Altmaier, and French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, published the first architecture paper on GAIA‑X. The large-scale project aims at strengthening the competitiveness of Europe’s economy by establishing a sustainable and innovative data infrastructure based on European values and security standards. The International Data Spaces (IDS) Association has a key role in launching the GAIA‑X project.
IDSA and GAIA‑X are the perfect fit
Data is an essential resource for economic growth, competitiveness and innovation in Europe. GAIA‑X’s mission is to strengthen digital sovereignty by empowering the development of innovation ecosystems. This means that individuals, organizations and communities stay in complete control over stored and processed data and are enabled to take independent decision on who is permitted to have access to it.
“The IDS reference architecture serves as an initial impulse for GAIA‑X. As a basis for an open ecosystem, it enables provider and consumer of data to connect in a secure, interoperable and sovereign way. Combined with highly available storage and efficient processing of data GAIA‑X has the potential to create a secure and trustworthy data infrastructure based on European values.”
Dr. Reinhold Achatz, CTO of thyssenkrupp and chairman of the board of IDSA
IDSA – a non-profit organization with 110 members from 20 countries – contributes the knowledge and technology to help shorten the time-to-market, a community of practice and a network of international hubs and liaisons to support knowledge sharing and building up of required skills in the data economy across Europe and beyond European borders.
GAIA‑X Foundation to make trustworthy data sharing ecosystems happen
To enable companies to use services with the value proposition of IDSA and GAIA‑X, the data infrastructure needs to be implemented on an operational level, based on commonly accepted standards and policy rules. To this end, 22 companies from Germany and from France, established the GAIA-X Foundation. The non-profit organization strives to stabilize and facilitate work and cooperation within the GAIA‑X community, to set up the architecture of standards for GAIA‑X and the necessary services making trustworthy data sharing ecosystems a reality.
IDSA is a founding member of the GAIA‑X Foundation and will help to drive international cooperation in the areas of Digital sovereignty and standardization. The mutually and by all members consensually agreed IDS reference architecture on data sovereignty will be a central element of the GAIA‑X architecture of standards. It also meets the requirements from more than 50 industry-driven projects from all domains.
“We strongly support the GAIA‑X Foundation, contributing our expertise and our network of association members. Many partners of the GAIA Foundation are already active in IDSA, and together we will set an important milestone for the European economy.”
Dr. Reinhold Achatz, CTO of thyssenkrupp and chairman of the board of IDSA
To learn more about GAIA‑X and to download the documents that have been published so far, visit www.data-infrastructure.eu.
Finally, GAIA‑X is a major step towards the success of the European Data Strategy. Get an overview about the role of IDS in implementing the EU Data Strategy and creating the European Data Spaces.
