Berlin/Munich, 17. November 2025 – For the first time, the European Summit on Digital Sovereignty is taking place. At the invitation of the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, representatives from politics, administration, business, and science across Europe will gather to develop solutions for a sovereign, innovation-friendly Europe. Gaia-X, one of six selected projects with its own interactive pavilion, vividly demonstrates how sovereign data exchange fosters innovation, climate protection, and economic opportunities. Practical examples – including the Community-X municipal data space in German Village of Etteln (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the cooperation with the French Industry Data Space solution Data4Industry-X – clearly show that digital sovereignty in Europe is already taking shape today.
For Thomas Jarzombek, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, sovereign and interoperable data spaces are the key to shaping digital transformation in Europe independently: „Gaia-X drives digital innovation and strengthens sovereignty. At the same time, it enables close collaboration between business, science, and the public sector. This alliance is essential to share data sovereignly across industries and sectors. Only in this way can we enable the next level of innovation.“
“Digital sovereignty is created through trust, openness and common standards,” says Ulrich Ahle, CEO of Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud (AISBL). “Gaia-X creates a foundation on which data spaces can function interoperably and securely – so that Europe not only preserves data, but also actively develops its innovative strength and competitiveness. This is demonstrated here in the practical examples that mark the transition from ideas to real impact.”
Dr. Abel Reiberg, Head of the Gaia-X Hub Germany, adds: “Gaia-X lays the foundation for a digital Europe that uses its data sovereignly. The upcoming Digital Summit provides an important opportunity to jointly demonstrate how open, secure, and interoperable data spaces can make business and society more resilient and innovative.”
Gaia-X at the Digital Summit
Europe is working on its digital independence, and Gaia-X provides the technical prerequisites for this. Gaia-X is developing a crucial element for building a sovereign and interoperable European data infrastructure. Such a data infrastructure is a prerequisite for the emergence of an innovative digital ecosystem that enables the development of competitive and scalable data and AI applications. The core objective of Gaia-X is to strengthen European digital sovereignty and competition in the data and cloud sectors, while reducing dependence, especially on American and Chinese IT providers and data-driven, market-dominant platforms.
In the interactive Gaia-X Pavilion, providers and users from all over Europe show how open, secure and sovereign data exchange enables future applications in everyday life. A large city model and live demonstrations illustrate the concrete benefits that trustworthy, interoperable data spaces bring to administration, business and society.
Community-X: Municipal data space as a blueprint
In Etteln, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, Community-X is being built as Europe’s first municipal data space. The village already won first place in the Smart City Contest organised by the international engineering association IEEE in 2024. Mobility, environmental and energy data are already being collected, exchanged and used to enable innovative services. The project shows how intelligent energy management, flexible pricing and the promotion of climate neutrality are creating a scalable blueprint for other cities and municipalities in Germany and Europe.
German-French cooperation
The close cooperation between Germany and France is exemplified by the interoperability between Community-X and other data space projects like Data4Industry-X. Data4Industry-X is a solution for the exchange of industrial data, relying on technology and industry expertise of Dawex, Schneider Electric, Valeo, CEA and Prosyst. This synergy between Community-X and Data4Industry-X enables local authorities to benefit from optimised energy solutions, while industry organisations are gaining practical environmental data. This interoperability promotes the resilience of cities, local authorities and companies and ultimately strengthens digital sovereignty in Europe.
Key advantages of Gaia-X at a glance
- Sovereign, secure and trusted data exchange as the backbone for innovation and competition in all industries
- Strengthening digital resilience and European independence through open, interoperable data infrastructures
- Acceleration of decarbonisation through data-driven networking of energy and environmental information
- Scalable data space solutions for the public sector, businesses and society – a standard for the whole of Europe
The “Summit on European Digital Sovereignty” will take place on 18 November 2025 at the EUREF Campus in Berlin. Participation is by invitation only, but the full programme can be followed via livestream.
Further information is available at: https://bmds.bund.de/aktuelles/eu-summit
About Gaia-X AISBL
Established in 2021 as a privately funded not-for-profit Association, Gaia-X brings together an international industrial, academic, and political community with the aim of building a common standard for transparent, controllable, and interoperable technologies. Gaia-X’s ambition is to deliver unprecedented opportunities for innovative data-driven business models while reducing dependency on non-controllable technologies.
Further information: https://gaia-x.eu
About Gaia-X Hub Germany
Since its foundation in 2020, Gaia-X Hub Germany has been the central point of contact for anyone interested in the exchange of data in open data ecosystems. Its goal is to support the development of an international data economy that is in line with European values and economic structures. The Gaia-X Hub promotes the development and use of Gaia-X in Germany. As a networking platform, the Hub brings together representatives from science, business, politics and society to exchange experiences, gain insights and put them into practice together. In addition to the German Gaia X Hub, there are currently 19 other national hubs within the EU and 7 outside Europe.
Further information: https://gaia-x-hub.de
Press contact
Manuel Krieg, Press & Communications Officer
Gaia-X Hub Germany
c/o acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering
Karolinenplatz 4, 80333 Munich
Email: gaia-x-presse@acatech.de