At the United Nations Open Source Week 2025, Gaia-X took stage alongside FIWARE to present a compelling vision for the future of digital sovereignty through open source and federated data infrastructure. The high-level side event demonstrated how open standards and community-driven collaboration can power scalable, interoperable, and decentralized data ecosystems across sectors and borders.
Roland Fadrany, COO of Gaia-X Association for Data and Cloud (AISBL), emphasized the maturity and readiness of the Gaia-X and FIWARE joint approach:
“This was a great opportunity to demonstrate that all essential components are available — and based on open source — to deliver decentralized, interoperable, and sovereign data spaces,” said Fadrany. “No more paperware, but implementation-ready solutions with FIWARE and Gaia-X.”
The event attracted digital leaders and technologists from around the world, spotlighting practical use cases such as smart cities, digital product passports, cross-sector data spaces, and humanitarian AI applications. The collaboration between Gaia-X and FIWARE highlights a concrete pathway to achieve trusted data governance, scalable digital public infrastructure, and strategic digital autonomy for nations and industries alike.
FIWARE’s open-source data space architecture empowers digital product passports, cross-sector data sharing, and trusted digital sovereignty across European and global ecosystems.
The Gaia-X Trust Framework and governance principles ensure automated compliance, interoperability, and transparency, while FIWARE provides the OSS building blocks for ecosystem implementation — together offering a complete solution for next-generation data ecosystems.
With the trust framework Gaia-X supports Digital Public Infrastructure requirements (DPI) (by ensuring that digital services — from cloud to data spaces — are not only technically robust but also governed in a way that respects local values, data sovereignty, and public interest. Gaia-X provides the foundational architecture for building inclusive, rights-based digital ecosystems that can be deployed globally with local trust.
UN Open Source Week 2025 reaffirmed the importance of open, collaborative platforms in shaping the future of inclusive and sovereign digital development. Gaia-X and FIWARE’s joint presence sent a clear message: the tools for global digital transformation are here — open, aligned, and ready to deploy.