14 October 2026, Brussels, Belgium: Lucas Eustache successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Governing Data Sharing”, on Friday 9 October 2026 at the Governance & Regulation Chair, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL, earning the title of Doctor in Management. The research was carried out over three years with the support of the Gaia-X Institute.
Why Data Sharing Remains an Organisational Problem
Organisations hold large volumes of data, but sharing it across organisational boundaries is difficult. The dissertation examines the organisational challenges involved and asks under what conditions data can circulate and be reused beyond the context in which it was created. It draws on several theoretical and methodological approaches and examines three areas: data markets and how they work in practice; the governance of data-sharing ecosystems, meaning how participants coordinate, who sets the rules, and who orchestrates; and the role of public authorities.
The dissertation contributes to understanding the mechanisms that enable or constrain data circulation, and how value is created as a result.
“Finishing this PhD means being able to offer an answer to why data sharing remains a challenge, and what enables it. The Gaia-X Institute gave me three years of support and a unique link to practice. The Economic Theatre in Vienna is the natural next step: taking the questions of the dissertation to the people who are building data spaces.”– Lucas Eustache, PhD, Paris Dauphine-PSL University
From research to practice
The Gaia-X Institute is an independent think tank devoted to strategic research on data exchange and the data economy, with a European and international perspective. Led by Hubert Tardieu, it works closely with the Governance & Regulation Chair at Université Paris Dauphine-PSL and the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Its multidisciplinary approach covers technology and digital infrastructures, economics and business models, law and regulation, and civic values and human rights. It aims to become the key European reference point for the economics of data sharing, and to promote sustainable business models and the long-term economic viability of data spaces.
“Understanding the economics of data sharing is central to the Institute’s mission. Lucas’s dissertation addresses a question that data space projects face every day: under what conditions can data circulate across organisations, and how is value created when it does? We are proud to have supported this work over the past three years, and we look forward to seeing it feed the discussions of the Economic Theatre in Vienna.”– Hubert Tardieu, Independent Gaia-X BoD; Head of the Gaia-X Institute
A three-year economic dialogue
Lucas Eustache’s dissertation took shape alongside the Economic Theatre, which the Gaia-X Institute has organised each year since 2024 within the Gaia-X Summit. The first edition took place in Helsinki, Finland, in November 2024, the second in Porto, Portugal, in November 2025, and the third will take place in Vienna, Austria, on 19-20 November 2026. Over these three editions, the Economic Theatre has become a place where the economic questions of data sharing are tested against the realities of data space projects: how value is created and shared, who bears the costs, and what role orchestrators, participants and public authorities play.
These are the questions at the heart of Governing Data Sharing. In Vienna, Lucas will join Joëlle Toledano, Professor Emeritus at Paris Dauphine-PSL University, to review the economic models submitted by data space projects and national authorities. The panel assesses how sound each model is, identifies weaknesses and offers an additional economic perspective. The review uses the framework developed by the Governance & Regulation Chair at Paris Dauphine-PSL, which distinguishes the roles of participants and orchestrators in data-sharing ecosystems.
For Lucas, now Doctor Eustache, the Economic Theatre is the point where three years of research meet the practice of European data spaces.
About the Gaia-X Institute
Independent think tank devoted to research on data exchange and the data economy. More information: https://gaia-x.eu/community/gaia-x-institute/
