The Data Space Adoption Forum (DSAF) and the Data Space Accelerator are two distinct initiatives that address these two requirements. This article explains what each one does and how they relate.
The Data Space Adoption Forum
The DSAF is a long-term, cross-ecosystem coordination body. It operates as an IDSA Working Group and brings together Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), data space operators, trust framework providers, and industry partners to co-develop the services and infrastructure required for scalable data space participation.
The Adoption Forum’s central contribution is the managed service model for data space connectivity. This includes the technical foundation provided by Eclipse Dataspace Components Virtual (EDC-V), governance alignment across trust frameworks, and the shared go-to-market foundations that allow multiple service providers to offer compatible onboarding services across multiple data spaces.
The DSAF is domain-agnostic. Its outputs are designed to be reusable across ecosystems. When the Adoption Forum defines a shared onboarding architecture or a federated certification model, that work applies to Catena-X, to Eona-X, to SCSN, and to any other data space that adopts compatible standards. This is what makes the Forum’s work structurally important for the data spaces ecosystem as a whole.
The Data Space Accelerator
The Data Space Accelerator is a programme currently operating within the Catena-X automotive data space. It is an incentive and study programme designed to bring a significant number of companies, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), into active data space participation within a defined timeframe.
The Accelerator supports participating companies through the onboarding process and collects structured data on what it actually takes for an SME to join a data space, what barriers they encounter, what business value they realize, and what the economics of participation look like in practice. This is deliberately framed as a study, not simply a subsidy. The insights generated will provide the first statistically relevant evidence base on SME adoption at scale.
The DSAF builds the infrastructure and the service model. The Accelerator creates immediate opportunity in Catena-X: companies are actively looking to onboard, there is structured support for the process. Catena-X’s upcoming Neptune release will provide the technical environment to deliver managed services. CSPs with EDC-V deployments ready for production can enter this market as the program operates.
The DSAF’s independent value
The DSAF’s coordination work means that capabilities built for Catena-X are designed from the outset to extend to other ecosystems. Learnings from the Accelerator, on what SMEs need, which service models work, feed back into the Adoption Forum and improve the shared foundations available to all members.
The Adoption Forum does not depend on any single deployment program to fulfil its purpose. Its value lies in the sustained, neutral coordination it provides across ecosystems, trust frameworks, and service provider communities. When the Adoption Forum defines shared onboarding architecture or aligns governance models, that work is available to all participants across all compatible data spaces.
What this means for Cloud and Managed Service Providers
CSPs and MSPs are positioned as the primary distribution channel for data space services. They already have direct relationships with the SMEs that data spaces need to reach. They have the infrastructure expertise to operate managed services. They have the sales and support capability to bring customers onto new services at scale.
The DSAF provides the neutral, cross-ecosystem coordination that makes investment in this capability commercially viable across multiple sectors and data spaces. Participation in the Adoption Forum gives access to shared technical foundations, alignment with trust and governance frameworks, joint go-to-market planning, and a community of operators and data space authorities who need the services that CSPs can provide.
Contact: DSAF@internationaldataspaces.org | data-space-adoption-forum.org
