16 June 2026, Brussels, Belgium – Gaia-X, the European Association for Data and Cloud, announces the successful conclusion of its 2026 Ordinary General Assembly (OGA). The assembly brought together Gaia-X members to review the association’s progress, vote on key governance and financial matters, and confirm strategic steps for the next phase of Gaia-X market adoption and international growth.
The 2026 OGA highlighted Gaia-X’s transition into Season 2.0, focused on economically sustainable data spaces, market adoption of existing technology, trustful data for trustful AI, SME accessibility, cross-data-space interoperability, and continued formal standardisation through CEN/CENELEC and ISO/IEC. The association reaffirmed that trust becomes automated, sovereignty becomes actionable, and Europe’s digital future can be built on solid, shared foundations.
Board of Directors Report
In the 2025–2026 reporting period, the Board of Directors (BoD) held 13 board meetings, including one Strategy Meeting in September 2025 in Toulouse, as well as two informal board meetings. During the period, the Board made 65 decisions and approved key framework documents, including the Gaia-X Architecture Document 25.11, the Compliance Document 25.10 and version 2.5.0, and the ICAM Document 25.11.
The Board also advanced Gaia-X’s contribution to EU-funded projects by approving participation guardrails and contributions to several initiatives, including DSSC2 and Compliance4DPP, while preparing contributions to additional Horizon Europe proposals such as Genius Spine and European Compliance Stack.
To strengthen execution and adoption, the Board structured its work around three focus groups covering users, providers, and orchestrators:
Gaia-X Users Focus Group: Ensure data space participants can achieve compliance by design and that their operational, technical, and governance needs are reflected in Gaia-X frameworks, architectures, and extensions.
Gaia-X Provider Focus Group: Simplify Standard Compliance Criteria, improve documentation with sample codes and tutorials, and supervise the development of a wizard tool.
Gaia-X Orchestrators Focus Group: Support structured collaboration with orchestrators, advance Gaia-X tooling, support adoption, and identify blockers to technical compatibility and verifiable Gaia-X usage across ecosystems.
The Board actively supported the Gaia-X Summit 2025 and its press conference, driving three focus groups, participating in committees, working groups, and sprints, and supporting membership growth.
Management Report
The OGA management report presented Gaia-X’s core strategic message: data spaces are not systems to deploy, but ecosystems to design, and they fail when governance and trust are not operationalised and automated. Gaia-X positions its Trust Framework as the reusable foundation that turns governance and trust into verifiable capabilities, enabling interoperability and scalability. Membership determines whether you consume trust or shape it.
On standardisation, Gaia-X reported active contributions to both European and international standards. Gaia-X AISBL is now an official liaison organisation to CEN/CENELEC JTC 25 and a Category A liaison to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38, while several Gaia-X members participate in relevant standardisation workstreams. Gaia-X also highlighted progress in the operationalisation of the Compliance Document, Gaia-X Labels, extensions, and the Gaia-X 3.0 “Danube” platform, including the Gaia-X Credential Wizard and supporting technical tools.
General Advisory Board Expansion
A major governance update of the assembly was the approval of General Advisory Board (GAB) members, which support Gaia-X’s internationalisation beyond the European Union. The GAB serves as a strategic advisory body focused on translating the Gaia-X Trust Framework into local legislation in non-EU jurisdictions, defining trust anchors for global adoption, supporting Gaia-X projects and Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses in their regions, and contributing to membership growth.
The GAB composition presented at the OGA includes representatives from Canada, Korea, Japan, the Caribbean, and Brazil, with backgrounds spanning both government and business. This expansion reinforces Gaia-X’s ambition to align international growth with trusted interoperability and regional regulatory relevance.
Co-opted directors for the Board of Directors
The OGA members approved the co-opted BoD member. During the reporting period, the BoD co-opted one Director from Orange following the handover of Emanuel Cacheux’s seat to Catherine Simonnin. Catherine Simonnin was appointed by the BoD as his successor, and her co-option was subsequently approved by the OGA members.
Governmental Advisory Board Report
The Governmental Advisory Board report presented during the OGA underlined growing alignment between participating countries and the European Commission on the future of operational, interoperable data spaces based on a federated infrastructure. The report recalled that the Governmental Advisory Board meeting in Brussels on 16 April 2026 brought together nine countries plus the European Commission and marked a breakthrough in strategic alignment.
During the meeting, the Board also elected Germany, represented by Robert Heinrich, Deputy Director General for Digital Economy, AI and Data Policy at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, as the new Chair of the Governmental Advisory Board. In this regard, Germany will guide the Board through this next phase of implementation and growth.
Outlook
The Ordinary General Assembly 2026 confirmed that Gaia-X is entering its next phase with a stronger market focus, broader international reach, deeper engagement in standardisation, and a growing portfolio of operational tools and ecosystem services. Through its governance decisions, strategic focus groups, international advisory structures, and ongoing technical and policy work, Gaia-X continues to position itself as the foundation for scalable, trusted, and interoperable digital ecosystems in Europe and beyond.
Decisions, Voting Results and Presentation are available on the Members Platform.