Europe’s data marketplace

European businesses need a secure European data market. Because without trust in data security, data management will not get off the ground. But there is still a lack of trustworthy platforms for securely sharing and evaluating industrial data, for example. In addition, there is the problem of different technical standards, quality levels and data protection regulations. The EU-funded TRUSTS project is intended to create trust and establish a fully functional data marketplace that complies with the requirements of the basic European data protection regulation. Seventeen partners from science and industry are pooling their knowledge and experience to achieve this. “The TRUSTS consortium brings together technology providers that are already heavily involved in large national data market projects,” says project coordinator Alexandra Garatzogianni from the L3S research centre. TRUSTS builds on the platforms International Data Spaces and Data Market Austria and extends them with new functionalities and services. Further platforms can be integrated.

As an independent platform association, TRUSTS investigates the legal and ethical aspects of data exchange along the entire value chain – from data providers to consumers. Three use cases will demonstrate the potential and functionality of TRUSTS – tested by six companies from different industries, including two data providers. At the same time, the partners should ensure that the platform is supported by a viable, compliant and effective governance, legal and business model and that the results are sustainable beyond the project duration.

TRUSTS starts in January 2020 and is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The partners are located in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain.