26 November 2024
The Gaia-X Expo Förderwettbewerb is an annual aimed to showcase the progress made of different Gaia-X project which are approaching maturation. This year the event took place in Berlin.
Berlin, November 26, 2024. The Gaia-X Expo Förderwettbewerb 2024 was a milestone event held as part of the ongoing efforts to foster digital sovereignty and innovation in Europe. With over 200 participants, the two-day event located in the heart of Berlin served as a comprehensive platform to present and discuss the current and past developments of Gaia-X’s vision through various EU-funded projects.
Highlights of the Event:
Showcasing Funded Projects
The event featured presentations from 10 funded projects, each demonstrating the practical applications of Gaia-X principles in diverse sectors such as healthcare, energy or manufacturing. These projects highlighted how data spaces can drive digital innovation while ensuring compliance, security and interoperability.
Stunning insights provided by EuProGigant
Wolfgang Kniejski, Senior Project Manager at EIT Manufacturing East, represented our EuProGigant project on stage by participating in a panel discussion on the topic `Data spaces as a tool for implementing new data driven business models´. He shared the importance of SMEs using the example of the manufacturing industry and the necessity to involve them in data spaces. Also, data-driven business models as well as possible efficiency increases caused by data spaces would strengthen Europe´s global competitiveness. Additionally, he voiced concerns that the current funding landscapes makes it difficult for solutions to reach a technology-readiness level (TRL) of 8 or 9. Lastly, Wolfgang further showcased the current status of the EuProGigant catalogue with the audience.
Keynotes and Panels
The opening keynote by Tanja Alemany emphasised the participative nature of Gaia-X and its role in enhancing and establishing Europe’s digital sovereignty. Panel discussions covered topics such as data sovereignty, critical infrastructure security and the adoption of data-driven business models. The importance of engaging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in these initiatives was a recurring theme across the industrial sectors.
The untamed potential of Data Spaces
Multiple speakers highlighted how these spaces can revolutionise industries, particularly in healthcare and manufacturing, by unlocking new opportunities for efficiency and innovation. The use cases illustrated how an increased usage of such technologies can lead to positive life improvements for everyday people.
Legal and Governance Aspects
Legal experts discussed the ongoing development of regulatory frameworks like the Data Governance Act, the Data Act or the recently published AI act. They underscored the need for clarity, compliance and collaboration between legal, political, and technical stakeholders to successfully achieve Gaia-X’s vision without breaching current legislation.
Challenges and Future Directions
The aforementioned involvement of SMEs was considered challenging as smaller companies might not have the IT experts in place to successfully work in a Gaia-X data space. Furthermore, the multitude of different standards makes implementation harder for parties involved. In addition, the processes need to work 24/7 to ensure sufficient participation.
More positive sentiment revolved around the global and international collaboration as countries like Japan or South Korea showed a pronounced interest in participating in shared data spaces. Thus, the Gaia-x principles need to be integrated into existing corporate frameworks to enable smooth operations.
Practical Learnings:
The Gaia-X Förderwettbewerb underlined the importance of creating actionable standards and trust frameworks to facilitate the adoption of federated and interoperable data spaces. The event highlighted the need for a stronger user-centric approach, ensuring that developed data spaces meet real-world needs and provide tangible added value to the overall society and the respective companies.
About EuProGigant
EuProGigant stands for the “European Production Giganet for Disaster-Resilient Self-Orchestration of Value-Added and Learning Ecosystems.” This binational project began on March 1, 2021, and runs for four years. The goal is to establish a cross-location, digitally networked production ecosystem. It is part of Austria’s “FTI Offensive Big Data in Production” program, supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology (BMK), as well as Germany’s “Development of Digital Technologies” program from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). EuProGigant is a registered EU-wide trademark of TU Wien and TU Darmstadt, both in word and image.
EuProGigant is supported by a consortium from Austria and Germany. The consortium leaders are the Pilot Factory Industry 4.0 at TU Wien and the Institute for Production Management, Technology, and Machine Tools at TU Darmstadt.
Press contact:
E-Mail: media@euprogigant.com
Lukas Schwab & Dominique Garcia Marschall
EIT Manufacturing
Photo credit: Gaia-X Hub Germany, EIT Manufacturing
