Gaia-X


Gaia-X is a European project that has developed a federated secure standard for data infrastructure whereby data are shared, with users retaining control over their data access and usage. It was developed to help ensure European digital sovereignty. It has moved past the development stage and is now being implemented. It promotes interoperability and data sovereignty across Europe and elsewhere. It provides a framework and tools
digital governance to ensure data can be shared securely while complying with European values of transparency, openness, data protection, and security, which can be applied to cloud technologies to obtain transparency and controllability across data and services. The project name is a reference to the Greek goddess Gaia.
Gaia-X started as an initiative by the former German Minister of Economic Affairs, Peter Altmaier, and his French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, in 2019. Originally presented at the 2019 Digital Summit in Dortmund, Germany, the initiative is under the von der Leyen Commission of European strategic autonomy and is under continuous development. The initiative is based in Belgium and has the legal form of an international non-profit organization. It aims to develop a proposal for the next generation of data infrastructure for Europe, and promote the digital sovereignty of European users of cloud services.

Goals

The aim of Gaia-X is to foster digital sovereignty aligned with European values.
To do so, Gaia-X is supporting ecosystems where data can be exchanged in a trustworthy way and owners keep sovereignty over their data, thus easing the growth of data economy.
To do so, Gaia-X has released standards, rules and a verification framework to enable transparent environments to spread for data exchanges.
According to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, openness, transparency and European connectivity are central to Gaia-X. The stated goal of this digital ecosystem is to ensure that companies and business models from Europe can be competitive, and share data within a trustworthy environment.
Gaia-X's objective is not to become a Cloud service provider or a Cloud management platform or to compete with hyperscalers.

Solutions

The project combines existing central and decentralized infrastructures to form a "digital ecosystem" using secure, open technologies with clearly identifiable Gaia-X nodes. The ecosystem includes software components from a common repository, and standards based on relevant EU regulations. Gaia-X intends to offer significant benefits from a data and infrastructure perspective, including innovative cross-sector data cooperation and more transparent business models.

Deliverables

Gaia-X 'AISBL is responsible for the following deliverables:
  • Specifications describing Gaia-X functional and technical requirements
  • Code, provided by the Gaia-X Open Source Software Community, translating the forementioned specifications
  • Labels' certifying compliance to the governance rules written in the specifications

    Specifications

Gaia-X provides the following specifications to describe Gaia-X concepts:
  • The Gaia-X Architecture Document explains concepts and requirements for technical and syntaxical interoperability - no link with governance rules
  • The Gaia-X Compliance Document expresses all the rules to follow to enable organisational and semantical interoperability - no link with technical requirements
  • The Gaia-X Identity, Credentials and Access Management Document specifies how to deal with rights, authentication and access when interacting with a Gaia-X Ecosystem
  • The Gaia-X Data Exchange Document explains process and rules for data exchanges in the Gaia-X world.
The Architecture Document outlines what needs to be built and how the pieces conceptually fit together.
The Compliance Document defines the rules and criteria that govern the behaviour of those pieces and their participants.

Code

Gaia-X specifications are turned into code by the Gaia-X Open Source Software community.
This code is an example of implementation of Gaia-X concepts and rules, creating software modules.
Two versions of these components are available so far:
  • Version 1 named TAGUS
  • Version 2 named LOIRE - current version of Loire

    Labels

A is issued by a Gaia-X Digital Clearing House when the proofs given by the requestor fulfil the requirements expressed in the Gaia-X Compliance Document, aligning with Gaia-X values of trust, transparency, security and interoperability.
Four Labels are available so far:
  • Gaia-X Standard
  • Gaia-X Label '''level 1
  • Gaia-X Label level 2
  • Gaia-X Label level 3'''

    Use cases

Live use cases demonstrate how Gaia-X concepts ease data space management or data exchange. Gaia‑X is in its implementation phase, with more than 180 data spaces.

Lighthouse Data Spaces

Some data spaces are recognised by the Gaia-X AISBL as the best examples to showcase how Gaia-X concepts can foster 'European data sovereignty and value creation'.
These data spaces span across diverse sectors such as the automotive, aeronautics and space or manufacturing industry, but also cloud services.

Lighthouse Projects

Lighthouse Projects aims to create data exchange platforms based on transparency, trust and openness. Many sectors are targeted, like agriculture, mobility, industry, health, energy or finance.
This projects are the frontrunners towards setting up trust for data exchanges and data services thanks to use of the '''Gaia-X Trust Framework'''

Use case testimonials

Some testimonials are also published by the Gaia-X AISBL to better understand how Gaia-X Concepts are enabling secure and trustworthy data exchanges, thanks to down-to-earth examples.
These examples, spanning from road condition monitoring, to perfect component fit within the manufacturing industry, are the following ones:
  • : basis for a data hub for the audiovisual industry
  • : smart tool for student career management
  • : platform for data space creation
  • : proactive tool for road maintenance
  • : ensuring components are matched accurately.
  • : career management tool for Korean professionals looking for opportunities in France.

    Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses

Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses are the entry point where participants or data services can be automatically scanned regarding Gaia-X conformity rules.
They are organised in a network of nodes and are running the technical Gaia-X components linked to Gaia-X Conformity, as expressed in the Gaia-X Specifications.
Thus, calling one of the Gaia-X Digital Clearing House is the practical way to determine your eligibility to the Gaia-X Conformity rules.
All the Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses are interconnected, and can be reached independently.
The list of active Gaia-X Digital Clearing Houses, including the version of code they are running for each component, is provided on a .

Organisation

The association: Gaia-X AISBL

Gaia-X AISBL was established early 2021 as an international private non-profit association under Belgian law and headquartered in Brussels.
Gaia-X AISBL is funded by the annual fees from its 250 members.
Its General Assembly, where all the members of the association have a seat, has full authority to ensure that Gaia-X AISBL goals are reached.
A Board of Directors, elected every 2 years, decided on important matters on behalf of all members and for the Association.
The Management Team of the Association is composed of the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Strategy Officer, the Chief Technical Officer, the Chief Innovation Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Digital Communications Director. It runs the daily activities of the Association.

Committees and Working Groups

To be able to work on the several subjects in Gaia-X AISBL scope, tasks has been dispatched between operational committees and working groups:
  • The Data and Services Business Committee aims to collect and share business information linked to Gaia-X in order to speed up market adoption. It is powered by the Sounding Boards dealing with local hubs, industrial domains or ITC service providers.
  • The Policy Rules Committee aims to translate Gaia-X principles into rules and objectives in order to add value to the ecosystems using them. This committee is organised in sprints.
  • The Technical Committee designs and implements the technological vision about Gaia-X. Some working groups have been set up to deal with architecture, data exchange services, or identity, credentials and access management.
The access to these committees and working groups are mainly dedicated to Gaia-X AISBL members, enabling them to shape the future of data exchange and data services.

Origin

The Gaia-X AISBL has been created at the beginning of 2021 by 11 French organisations and 11 German organisations.
The founding members on the German side included:
The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the International Data Spaces Association, and the European cloud provider association CISPE were co-founders of the Gaia-X Association.
On the French side, founding members included:
Since then, the number of members grew constantly, enabling the association to cover all its costs thanks to the membership fees.
The Association is also involved in a project founded by the European Commission. This project, the Data Space Support Center has been launched in 2022 for 42 months.