In a past newsletter edition, we introduced what Data Spaces are and elaborated on the importance of a common European data spaces ecosystem. In this article, we will give a short overview on which data spaces will be part of this ecosystem besides the European Language Data Space (LDS).

© European Commission

The Digital Europe funding programme focuses on the creation of 14 data spaces, each linked to a strategic topic, with the overall mission of building a Single EU Data Space which will ensure fairness in the allocation of data value among the data economy actors as well as trust in data transactions, and unleash the potential of data as material for innovation^[1]. These data spaces are currently being established:

• The European Health Data Space (EHDS) aims to enhance the use of health data for better healthcare delivery, research, innovation, and policy-making, ensuring individuals’ control over their health data.
• The European Manufacturing Data Space is represented by Data Space 4.0, an industrial community driven by the National Industry 4.0 initiatives and aims to create a unified voice, a shared pathway and governance model for scale-up of cross-sectorial data spaces for manufacturing.
• The AgriDataSpace project is designed to create a European data space for agriculture that aims to support new opportunities for monitoring and optimising natural resource use.
• The Mobility Data Space (MDS) is a data marketplace funded with the objective of making mobility safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
• The Green Deal Data Space is focussed on resilience and sustainability, facilitating the optimisation of circular economy and transparency of supply chains. It supports risk and crisis management solutions, offering a platform for various projects and services.
• The Common European Energy Data Space will be involved in managing energy-related data and will be playing a pivotal role in the transition to a sustainable energy system within the EU.
• The Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) will connect European databases, including TED data on public procurement, and national procurement data sets available in national portals to realise a truly integrated space for public procurement data.
• The Data Space for Skills project (DS4Skills) aims at preparing the ground for the development of an open and trusted European Data Space for Skills that supports sharing and accessing educational data.
• The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is an environment for hosting and processing research data to support EU science.
• The European Data Space for Cultural Heritage supports the digital transformation of Europe’s cultural sector. It allows cultural heritage institutions across Europe to share digitised, high-quality cultural heritage content, including 3D, and promotes the reuse of digitised cultural heritage among various audiences.
• The Trusted European Media Data Space (TEMS), a consortium born from the partnership of 43 large companies, SMEs and research organizations, aims at the deployment of a European Media Data Space (EMDS) that promotes effective media data sharing and collaboration among stakeholders.

Further initiatives, like the Financial Data Space and the Data Space for Tourism are currently in early planning stages.

Of course, a crucial prerequisite for the realisation of the envisioned Single EU Data Space is the collaboration between these Data Spaces as well as a with further comparable initiatives. A huge effort in this regard is being pursued already by the DSSC, which actively helps the data space initiatives to define common requirements and best practices. With this in mind, the LDS Consortium will also focus on synergies and possible interactions with other data spaces (e.g. the Media Data Space) in the near future.

^[1] Common European Data Spaces and interoperability, EBDVF – Valencia, 25-27 October 2023