Data spaces enable the exchange of data in a secure and controlled environment, creating value and new business opportunities for different sectors. With vast expertise and cutting-edge infrastructure, we provide experimental data spaces as a service for companies interested in data economy and data sharing, as well as compatibility tests for existing IDS connectors.
Key facts
We cover the full value chain for data space solutions from sensors, communications and data sharing to applications, with a track record of successfully applying these solutions in sectors such as energy, precision farming, textiles and manufacturing.
The data space approach creates value by enabling the exchange of data in a trustworthy environment combined with usage control. Data spaces also create new business opportunities with cross-sectoral data exchange.
Our data space components hosted on our private cloud infrastructure can be used to create prototypes for different use cases.
Secure ways to share data are required
In the middle of a global digital transformation, trustworthy sharing of data is becoming a necessity. Companies and organisations need a secure way of sharing information with each other to create new smart services and optimise value chains. In other words, they need data spaces.
Data spaces are data relationships between trusted partners that apply the same high standards and rules to storing and exchanging data. They are a rapidly emerging solution to address the needs of data sharing and data economy. The EU is currently launching massive investments in the creation of data space solutions and best practices for several business sectors. Hundreds of millions of euros will be spent in the coming years to boost the European data economy.
Reap the benefits of data spaces
VTT’s Data Spaces Innovation Lab is an easy path forward for businesses that want to take part in this huge transition and opportunity. Based on IDSA reference testbed components, the Data Space Innovation Lab facilitates the testing of data economy concepts and preservation of data sovereignty in data sharing between companies and organisations.
With data spaces, you ensure:
- Decentralisation: Data is not stored centrally but remains at the source and is therefore only shared (via semantic interoperability) when necessary.
- Data sovereignty: The data owner can control the use of its data and capture the value from it.
- Neutrality: Different actors and stakeholders are treated equally within a data space.
- Identity management: Refers to identification, authentication and authorisation of organisations or persons.
- Traceability: Transactions made within the distributed system should be recorded and logged.
- Data interoperability: The ability to establish a mutual understanding on the structure and semantic meaning of data.
- Data findability: The ability to discover available data services through e.g., service catalogues.
Our offering
The VTT Data Spaces Innovation Lab provides experimental data spaces as a service for companies interested in data economy and data sharing.
The experimental data space infrastructure can be used as a baseline for developing customised data space solutions for specific application domains or use cases. This allows the testing of business concepts and building of proof of concepts before investing in real-life solutions.
We also perform compatibility tests for existing IDS connectors. The developers are often able to create their own connector implementations, but they are not sure whether the connectors truly meet the required IDS specifications and whether they are interoperable with existing IDS reference implementations. The testing procedure consists of verifying that the connector under test can successfully communicate and share data with the components hosted by our data space infrastructure, including identity provider, metadata repository and IDS connector.
In addition, there are several capabilities under development:
- Easy-to-use graphical user interfaces to facilitate the configuration and deployment of the provided components with various types of back-end systems
- A so-called “clearing house” service that logs the details of data exchange transactions to facilitate billing and conflict resolution
- A vocabulary provider component that manages and offers vocabularies (i.e., ontologies). The component can be used for annotating and describing data and datasets, which facilitates interoperability between systems and platforms.
The perfect combination of expertise, infrastructure and connections
At VTT, we take pride in developing science-based solutions from concept all the way to piloting. With us, you get a partner that is committed to partnerships that create added value. Our one-stop shop of expertise, infrastructure, global connections and business understanding ensure that you can concentrate on your core business.
We are a recognised partner in the data revolution and active members of the biggest European initiatives in the field, namely International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), Gaia-X and BDVA.
Our Data Spaces Innovation Lab hosted on VTT’s private cloud infrastructure is a safe environment for co-creation of data space solutions with our partners. As a technology-neutral partner, we are experts in building data spaces based on many standard solutions, such as FIWARE, certified IDS connectors developed by VTT and Eclipse Data Space Connector (EDC).
How can we help you with data spaces?
- Does my use case benefit from a data space?
- How do I design a data space for my needs?
- What is the right technical solution to build my data space?
- Where can I try out the data space concept?
- Where do I find data space components to build my own data space?
Contact us here!
Related project cases
Case Konecranes, Danfoss and Fastems: Smart factory data sharing
In this customer project VTT, Konecranes, Danfoss and Fastems explored solutions to securely exchange data among manufacturing machines that deploy heterogeneous interfaces and communication protocols. Additionally, sharing selected data from a private factory network to external stakeholders was tested.
VTT supported the companies in developing IDS (International Data Spaces) connectors that enable selectively disclosing data from production machines to both internal and external data consumers. In addition, the developed connectors were directly integrated with existing OPC UA (OPC Unified Architecture) implementations.
Case HSL: Trusted Data Sharing in Smart Cities
The goal of the project was to use the IDS standard to reveal the energy consumption and emissions information found in Helsinki Region Transport’s (HSL) and a specific city district’s data platforms. This way the data of both public transport and buildings could be considered when searching for ways to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint in a certain area.
VTT and Vastuu Group created a solution that enables the two different data platforms to communicate fluently with each other. While VTT implemented the IDS connector that secures the data transfer between the two platforms, Vastuu Group offered a modular Platform of Trust solution to harmonise the data after it was deemed secure.
Case: FlexiGroBots
FlexiGroBots was an EU Innovation Action aiming to build a platform for flexible heterogeneous multi-robot systems for the intelligent automation of precision agriculture operations. The project aimed at providing multiple benefits to farmers around the world. Data spaces enable farmers and service companies to share sensitive data in complex agricultural operations and to connect intelligent robotics systems together for joint tasks. Multiple pilots operate on the data space built in the project by VTT, IDSA and Atos.
How to work with us
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Contact us!
Let’s discuss what is the value of the data you have or should have, where it is captured and how you can access or make it accessible.
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Explore the new way of sharing data and creating a vivid ecosystem
No ecosystem can thrive without data. No data can be shared without proper governance and secure technical framework. The way to manage data in an ecosystem is utilising data spaces.
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Together from ideation to validation and preparation to activation of your own data space
With our extensive experience of data space projects for different purposes and industries, we can support you in your journey to a more efficient data economy.
Meet our team
