Brussels, Belgium, 19 March 2024 – The Market-X Conference & Expo, organised in partnership with the Gaia-X Hub Germany took place on 12 March 2024 as part of the Data Spaces Symposium (DSS). The event provided a platform for showcasing the real-world impact and innovation powered by Gaia-X. Attendees had the opportunity to delve into the Gaia-X Framework, explore the Gaia-X Digital Clearing House, and gain insights from up-and-running projects and successful business cases.
Ulrich Ahle, Gaia-X, CEO, stated: “As we prepare for the next decade of data management, our focus is on establishing interoperable data spaces and facilitating seamless connections among diverse sources and users of data. The regulatory framework provided by the Data Governance Act and the Data Act serves as a foundation for these advancements within Europe. However, approaches like Gaia-X must gain global acceptance. Together, our goal is to encourage collaboration, generate market opportunities, and drive global adoption.”
This year’s Market-X event at the Data Space Symposium was a complete success for sovereign data exchange and an important step towards implementing data spaces,” says Jan Fischer, Coordinator of Gaia-X Hub Germany. “Furthermore, the networking within the community and the transfer of knowledge found their significant role. The numerous international guests and attendees showed that data exchange in line with European values and economic structures is a global role model and invites imitation. The Gaia-X Hub Germany, as a networking platform for the community, is already looking forward to the next Market-X event.”
Highlights from the event included:
- Recognition of Gaia-X ACCREDITED Digital Clearing Houses:
Gaia-X officially recognised Aruba SpA and T-Systems International as Gaia-X ACCREDITED Digital Clearing Houses. This accreditation confirmed the organisations’ commitment to fostering secure, trustworthy, and interoperable data ecosystems in alignment with Gaia-X principles.
- Study on data sharing:
The Gaia-X Institute presented a study on data sharing, which was developed in collaboration with Université Paris Dauphine – PSL. The aim is to understand the economics of data sharing and provide a framework for analysing data-sharing ecosystems. The framework will be tested with existing data spaces until 24 September, and it is expected to benefit digital service ecosystems. The discussion emphasised the importance of economic analysis and successful use case implementations for establishing sustainable data-sharing systems.
- Spotlight on Gaia-X Lighthouse Projects:
Initiatives like COOPERANTS, Energy Data-X, Health-X, Team-X, and Prometheus-X, recently recognised as Gaia-X Lighthouse Projects, took the stage to showcase their initiatives. Their recognition as Gaia-X Lighthouse Projects highlights their commitment to advancing Gaia-X principles. These projects demonstrate the power of collaboration to drive progress in data governance.
Roland Fadrany, Gaia-X COO, emphasised that “The Gaia-X Lighthouse Projects are where market adoption truly takes place. While technology, policies, and rules are important, their real impact materialises when they’re put into practice in the market. At last year’s Market-X, we had 8 lighthouse projects; this year, that number has grown to 17, alongside two lighthouse data space. The key difference is that lighthouse data spaces are fully operational from a business standpoint, using an accredited Gaia-X clearing houses and implementing data space services on an industry scale..”
- Development of X-Road 8 “Spaceship” by NIIS:
The Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions (NIIS) is developing a new version of X-Road, named X-Road 8 “Spaceship,” a data space solution aligned with the Gaia-X Trust Framework. Initial results are anticipated for review by May 2024, with a subsequent project to test the outcomes within Estonia’s X-Road ecosystem later in the year.
The Market-X Conference & Expo showcased the collective efforts to harness the potential of Gaia-X in shaping the future of data ecosystems. As the momentum continues to build, stand ready to drive innovation and collaboration, moving towards a future where data is secure, trusted, and interoperable.
About Gaia-X:
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 to enabling the creation of common data spaces, and in doing so boost the European data economy.
Open to anyone but aligned to the European values of human-centricity, transparency, openness and sovereignty, Gaia-X’s ambition is to deliver unprecedented opportunities for innovative data-driven business models, reducing the dependency on non-controllable technologies.
About the Gaia-X Hub Germany:
Since its establishment in 2020, the German Gaia-X Hub has been dedicated to informing German businesses, administrations, and organisations about the economic potential and benefits of the emerging Gaia-X ecosystem. The hub promotes the development and use of Gaia-X in Germany. It brings together stakeholders from science, business, politics and society to exchange experiences, gain insights and jointly put them into practice.
Contacts
Cosmina Gantner
Communications Director
Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud
+32499397519
cosmina.gantner@gaia-x.eu
