What is a Data Space?

A data space can be defined as a data ecosystem built around commonly agreed building blocks, enabling an effective and trusted sharing of data among participants to create value Definition by the Data Space Business Alliance

It's a collaborative playground for data! In this space, data can be easily and securely shared among all the participants. The goal is to work together and use this shared data to create something valuable for everyone involved.

Key questions

Can everybody join? Data Spaces are for specific community or ecosystem with agreed-upon rules. It is the main difference and key point of Data Spaces, if we compare it with Open Data that is about openness and freedom of use without stringent controls. Data Spaces imply a controlled environment, fostering trust.

How can you join the playground, How can I get access to Data Spaces? The answer is a Data Space Connector.

Where can I buy a Data Space? Data Spaces are like Webs in the Internet, where could you buy the Internet? As Internet is a distributed infrastructure to enable global accesible content; data spaces are also the infrastructure for the data economy. Therefore, you can buy is access to Data Spaces as you can buy today access to Internet, and you can buy your own Data Platforms to host your data as today you are able to buy hosting for storing your own Webpages.

How can you join the playground? The answer is a Data Space Connector.

Building Blocks

A data space is like a playground for data. Consider it a special environment where everyone agrees on certain basic rules and tools (a.k.a. building blocks); let's see and analyze these Building Blocks.

The building blocks required to cover the three major technology pillars for the creation of data spaces are the following ones:

The three key foundations for building data spaces are:

1. Data Interoperability: Data Spaces are built on the interoperability mechanisms of IDS-RAM International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), with a specific emphasis on IDS Infomodel and the Vocabulary Hub.This involves using ETSI NGSI-LD API and FIWARE Smart Data Models to exchange data effectively. It is also called the initial level of interoperability mechanisms (Minimal Interoperable Mechanisms - MIMs) by Living in EU , European Data Space for Smart Communities and Open & Agile Smart Cities & Communities (OASC) . Where: [MIM1] is the Data Exchange API as NGSI-LD and [MIM2] is the Data Model as the Smart Data Model. More details about MIMs v6.0, and the activities with Imternational Telecommunication Union - ITU-T.
2. Data Sovereignty and Trust: It is required a decentralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework, similar to the one that we can find today in the Public Key Infrastructures based on digital certificates, with the key difference that makes it highly scalable and distributed it is built over a decentralized infrastructure. [Identification] Decentralized Identifiers (DID) are defined as a standard by the W3C. DID can be used independently of any central source of truth and is intended to be cheap, fast, scalable, and secure. [Trust infrastructure] European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is the distributed infrastructure to support Trust management, Trust Anchors, and Trust Services Providers, managed through Verified Credentials.
3. Data Value Creation: Using a Centralized Service Catalogue and Marketplace based on TM Forum standards to create and provide value from the data, as the one developed by DOME Marketplace available at https://dome-marketplace.org/

Next Chapter

In the next chapter, we will analyze deeply what is a Verified Credential.

Acknowledgements

This newsletter is based on my analysis and interpretation of all the official documents released by FIWARE, International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), Gaia-X Association for Data and Cloud (AISBL), Gaia-X Hub Espa?a, W3C.

Data Spaces are a unique opportunity to reach a deep digital transformation and cooperation across organizations, so the cooperation to enable an interoperable, secure, and scalable approach for Data Spaces is one of the key opportunities to enable a Digital Single Market.

Dr. Antonio J. Jara is the Chief Scientific Officer at Libelium, a company that is working in Data Spaces as part of the solution Iris 360 Space, which is a powered by FIWARE solution to enable AI on demand, IoT advanced devices management, smart cities solutions for key verticals as Low Emission Zones, Crowd Management, Environmental Monitoring, Air Quality, Noise, Parking, and Data Spaces interconnection.

Libelium is a consortium member of the European Commission initiatives about Data Spaces:

• CitCom.ai TEF – Testing AI and Robotics in Smart Communities
• DOME Marketplace
• BeOpen-DEP

Jesus Ruiz Juanjo Hierro Stefan Lefever Stefan Wiedemann Martin Brynskov Vicente Julián Vicente Botti Alberto Abella, PhD Patricia Tamarit Jorge Capel Planells Ernesto Faubel Pedro Antonio Sánchez Romero María José Bernal Lorca