Author: Victor de Vries, Junior Community Manager
Co-organised by the Gaia-X Association and the Gaia-X Education and Skills Ecosystem, the recent Education and Skills Data Space event brought together key stakeholders from the education sector, government, and edtech providers. The discussions focused on the challenges and opportunities around interoperability, governance, and the value of a common European approach to data exchange.
Foundations for Data Exchange and Applications
Alberto Palomo, Chief Strategy Officer at Gaia-X, opened the event by highlighting the critical role of Gaia-X in establishing governance for data sharing. “Our goal is to digitalise the conformity assessment process, providing a trust framework that validates services and enables trusted data exchange at scale,” he stated.
Roundtable: Unlocking the Value of Data Spaces in Education
Moderated by Matthias De Bièvre, President at Prometheus-X, the high-level roundtable addressed the importance of standardisation in developing data spaces to improve education and skills development. “We don’t need to reinvent existing solutions,” De Bièvre remarked. “Instead, we should work towards common protocols that ensure interoperability across ecosystems.”
A major challenge discussed was the need for sustainable funding and a clear business case for data spaces. “While the technical aspects are well understood, governance and financial resources remain key hurdles,” De Bièvre noted.
Claudio Cimelli, Project Director at the French Ministry of Education, outlined France’s digital strategy for education (2023-2027), which aims to create a data ecosystem that serves public policy, promotes digital skills, and ensures inclusivity. “We must exchange data based on widely accepted international standards while allowing for national adaptations within a shared framework,” Cimelli stressed.
Evelien Renders, Advisor for international collaboration at SURF (Netherlands) and President of EUNIS, highlighted the progress made in interoperability among European higher education institutions (HEIs). Under the framework of the European Digital Education Hub, European university alliances are mapping their heterogeneous systems identifying what resources are needed to connect them. She underscored the HEIs’ goal for a “seamless learner journey across borders,” facilitated by use cases such as course discovery across institutions.
With a similar national initiative, Sakari HeikkiIä, Program Manager at CSC Finland, presented the Digivisio programme, which aims to provide a unified platform for lifelong learning courses offered by Finnish HEIs. “The technical side is relatively easy, but the real challenge is the cultural shift needed within institutions regarding ways of working,” he observed. “We’re working with universities to demonstrate the value of structured course data and AI-driven insights.”
Prometheus-X: Building Blocks for Interoperability
Turning the conversation towards how to build data spaces, Matthias De Bièvre highlighted Prometheus-X’s role in creating open-source components for data providers and users to access necessary standards. “We want to reduce the time it takes to integrate new data-sharing partners by standardising both technical and legal aspects,” he explained.
Prometheus-X’s work is already yielding results, with organisations like imc AG and Headai developing AI-driven solutions to bridge skills gaps and personalise learning experiences. “By mapping job descriptions to skill profiles, we can better align training programmes with industry needs,” said Dr. Irawan Nurhas of imc AG. Similarly, Anu Passi-Rauste of Headai described how AI-powered digital twins can help students visualise their skill development and receive personalised training recommendations.
EU Strategy for the European Skills Data Space
The event concluded with the EU strategy for the Skills Data Space. “President von der Leyen’s vision for a ‘Union of Skills’ prioritises skills development to drive societal prosperity,” noted Ioannis Gaviotis, Policy Officer at DG CNECT. Emphasising the importance of interoperability, he added, “The Skills Data Space must integrate with other Common European Data Spaces to support this goal.”
Introducing the DS4Skills-Go project launched in January 2025, Chiara Longobardi and Nathan da Silva Carvalho of DIGITALEUROPE outlined the next steps for deploying a European Skills Data Space. Following the blueprint of previous preparatory action and the infrastructure of EDGE-Skills project, the DS4Skills-Go will deploy eight use cases aimed at enhancing digital skills and employment opportunities across Europe.
Moving Forward
The discussions at the event underscored the value of data-sharing in the education and skills sector. The event reinforced that while noteworthy progress is being made, collaboration among institutions, governments, and technology providers remains crucial. With data spaces, we have seen that systems can be built where learners seamlessly access opportunities, skills gaps are effectively addressed, and innovation thrives. The future focus should centre on scaling successful pilot initiatives, refining governance models, and ensuring long-term sustainability through public-private partnerships.
Are you interested to learn more about Gaia-X and engage in the Education and Skills Ecosystem? Reach out to Victor de Vries, Junior Community Manager