in content lists or on the content page.Gaia-X Finland
To promote the prosperity and competitiveness of the Europe of the future, the ground rules for sharing data must be in place. Gaia-X is a European project where these rules are being created jointly. The aim is to share data reliably and fairly. There are many opportunities for Finnish companies to participate. Sitra’s project ended 2024.
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What is it about?
While data-driven solutions offer opportunities to boost prosperity, sustainability and competitiveness, the development of the European data economy faces many challenges. There is a mismatch between business and organisational solutions, data governance is difficult and legislation is opaque. Sharing data between different actors and exploiting related business opportunities in Europe are only just beginning to emerge.
The European Gaia-X project is tackling these problems. Originating in Germany and France, Gaia-X is a consortium of hundreds of companies and other actors working together to create rules and compatible solutions for sharing data. Sitra is co-ordinating the Finnish national Gaia-X network.
At the European level, Gaia-X aims to create an open innovation ecosystem to define principles for data sharing and supporting infrastructure based on European values.
It also aims to increase the transparency and appeal of digital services and reduce the dependency on individual service providers that burdens consumers and businesses.
The Gaia-X development work is coordinated by the international association AISBL. Companies can take part in the development work directly in the association’s working groups or together through country-specific Gaia-X networks or hubs.
Sitra’s Gaia-X Finland project was implemented in 2021–2024.
What did we do?
In the project, we piloted the activities of the national network and are bringing different actors together in ecosystem work and practical experimentation.
We helped different industries to identify clear objectives and sector-specific data use cases and to contribute to building European data spaces. A data space is a network of actors or systems created for sharing and exchanging data and based on mutually agreed principles and rules.
We boosted Finnish companies’ competitiveness in the European market and increase their co-operation with European companies in data sharing projects. We also helped Finnish companies to understand the essentials of European data space development and changes in the data economy operating environment.
We brought Finnish data sharing solutions to the attention of the European development community, in order to communicate their potential and make them attractive to European partners. Sitra’s fair data economy theme has created and is creating tools and solutions that enable data to be shared more freely in ecosystems. We are continuously making these tools available to everyone.
We also aimed to increase Finnish companies’ understanding of European and Finnish funding options for projects on data sharing as well as legal and regulatory issues. The network provides companies with the opportunity to learn about new business models that can be facilitated by freely flowing data. Pioneering companies that are able to apply the lessons learned can thus gain a competitive advantage.
By taking part in the Gaia-X network, it is possible to get involved in shaping the field suitable for Finnish companies now that the rules for the free mobility of data are being created in Europe.
Who is involved?
The preparation of the project has involved a wide range of actors, including VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Business Finland, the Confederation of Finnish Industries, Technology Industries of Finland and DIMECC.
Currently, seven sectoral working groups took place under the project: agriculture, the circular economy, location, health, mobility, public sector data space and skills data.
What did we achieve?
The project was implemented in 2021–2024. The work continues under the leadership of new actors. Read more about the results of the project and the future activities of Gaia X Finland in the article.
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