Finland’s Gaia-X strategy

The European Commission has decided to make this decade Europe’s “Digital Decade”. In accordance with the Commission’s objectives, the Gaia-X project strengthens Europe’s digital self-sufficiency and data sovereignty, free access to the market and new value creation, modularity, interoperability and user-friendliness. Finland has decided to take an active role in the development of Gaia-X. Nordic values and digital leadership are Finland’s strengths in the development of Gaia-X.

A large number of parties have been involved in the preparation work. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has been active in contributing to Gaia-X from the beginning, as have the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Business Finland. The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport and Communications have provided the national specification task of Gaia-X with political insight, while the business perspective has been represented by a large number of companies as well as organisations such as the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), Technology Industries of Finland and DIMECC.

In late 2020, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment requested Sitra to co-ordinate the Finnish Gaia-X hub. This strategy document was created to define the shared goals for the hub’s activities and ensure the success of its operations. This document was developed through interviews and collaboration. Dozens of companies, advocacy organisations and public-sector entities operating in fields related to the data economy have participated in the effort.

This document answers the following questions:

• What drivers of change help Finland and Europe to promote the data economy?
• What are the key challenges to the sharing and use of data in the Finnish context?
• What are the mission, organisational structure, objectives and preliminary road map of the Finnish Gaia-X hub?
• What funding opportunities are available to the Finnish Gaia-X network?