Platform of Trust is a service that enables compatible data flows from any source system to any application or user interface. It was developed by Vastuu Group in order to enhance data-driven development and data sharing in the fields of real estate and construction. Vastuu Group is a Finnish company that promotes digitalization in the built environment and a more sustainable life for people and the environment through reliable data.
Silos prevent organizations from sharing data
Businesses and other organizations are wary of sharing their data for fear of data breaches. Revealing trade secrets or personal information is a risk that few organizations can afford to take lightly. As a result, data often stay stagnant with few parties utilizing or doing business with it.
Another problem with data sharing is that different platforms rarely communicate fluently with each other. Data harmonization is required to make the data easy to use for a variety of purposes.
Companies have an abundance of data, but they are afraid of sharing it. To enable the free flow of data, we first have to create safe ways to combine and harmonize it.
Ilkka Niskanen, VTT’s Research Scientist
International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) strives to promote data sharing and sovereignty by combining business, innovative technological solutions and EU legislation. VTT has collaborated with IDSA in implementing a global data standard, IDS, which guarantees data privacy and security between communicating information platforms.
In 2020, VTT teamed up with Vastuu Group for a CO2 and energy consumption measurement project that provided a possibility to validate IDSA’s vision and the IDS technology with businesses.
Data harmonization makes energy consumption and emissions transparent
The goal of the project was to use the IDS standard to reveal the energy consumption and emissions information found in Helsinki Region Transport’s (HSL) and a specific city district’s data platforms. This way the data of both public transport and buildings could be taken into account when searching for ways to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint in a certain area.
The project required developing a solution that would enable smooth data transfer without sacrificing information security. Even though HSL already had an API that allowed access to their data platform, the data wasn’t completely compatible with the building platform.
Vastuu Group and VTT created a solution that enables the two different data platforms to communicate fluently with each other. While VTT implemented the IDS connector that secures the data transfer between the two platforms, Vastuu Group offered a modular Platform of Trust solution to harmonize the data after it is deemed secure.
The IDS and Vastuu Group’s technology solutions yielded several benefits:
- Improved visibility into the total CO2 emissions and energy consumption of buildings and public transport
- More data to support urban planners towards carbon neutrality
- A standardized data model product and increased maturity of Platform of Trust to create trust in the medium and long term
- Business reference how IDS can be utilized.
VTT is well-connected in the European IDS world, which helped us to enter the international stage. For our part, we were able to provide a genuine use case and technology that validated the IDS standard.
Mikko Sierla, International Affairs, Vastuu Group
Trust between organisations key for business synergies
In addition to case-specific benefits, the project between VTT and Vastuu Group had a larger global context. As part of the IDSA vision for a more transparent and safe information exchange culture, the project showed promise in many aspects:
- Shared understanding and trust: Secure data lowers the threshold for different organizations to share their knowledge and expertise. This brings synergies and innovation to future business endeavors, as organizations move from siloing data inside internal systems to share it globally.
- Validation and growth: The IDS standard needs to be tested in genuine business environments that validate its benefits. The project between VTT and Vastuu Group is one of the concrete steps on the way forward.
- Fast business launch: Many industries require new businesses to master several value chains and processes before value creation is possible. Easy and secure data sharing enables new businesses or partnerships to skip many slow and arduous phases and tasks that have traditionally prevented them from value creation at the beginning of their journey.
Potential for upscaling
IDSA has high ambitions for IDS to become a global data standard. This data platform project utilized the IDS standard in a genuine business environment but also proved that VTT and Vastuu Group can provide added value to global data sharing solutions.
VTT’s leadership helped us to realise the potential of a wider European data space dimension and supported its adoption. Collaborative ecosystems and trusted data sharing standards, such as IDS, are essential building blocks for a new era of data.
Mikko Sierla, International Affairs, Vastuu Group
VTT and Vastuu Group’s seamless collaboration has already enabled both organizations to develop their technical expertise and business know-how. The next step is to take the experience gained from this collaboration to further projects.
We always want to enrich our own know-how when we launch a partnership. New innovations are built around sharing information and understanding each other’s needs better. There’s plenty of potentials to scale this project internationally,
Mikko Sierla, International Affairs, Vastuu Group
This blog article was originally published by VTT: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/news-and-ideas/secure-sharing-supports-data-sovereignty-and-business-between-organisations
