MISSION KI funding project on data exchange standards to be presented at the FAIR Digital Objects Implementation Summit in Berlin
A competitive data economy requires smooth data exchange. Therefore, in January 2024, MISSION KI, an initiative by the German Academy of Science and Engineering and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, commissioned five of Germany’s most renowned institutes in data standardization to develop an FDO infrastructure for cross-sector networking of data spaces. Two months later, the research consortium is now presenting a demonstrator of the FDO infrastructure for the first time at the International FAIR Digital Objects Implementation Summit, March 20-21, 2024, in Berlin.
The project unites the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen (GWDG), data service provider IndiScale, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Software and Systems Engineering (ISST) and Applied Information Technology (FIT), the Chair of Information and Automation Systems for Process and Material Technology (IAT) at RWTH Aachen, and the German Institute for Standardization (DIN).
“With the expertise from the consortium and the networking through MISSION KI, this project can significantly contribute to the interoperability of different data spaces,” says Prof. Dr. Philipp Wieder from Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen.
“The challenge is to establish common, flexible, and secure standards to leverage the benefits of connected data spaces. FDOs offer a promising approach – a unified method for indexing and cataloging data,” says Dr. Peyman Khodabakhsh, project leader of MISSION KI.
The core of the project is the development of a prototype infrastructure that enables the standardization of data descriptions across various data spaces. The solution is based on combining the FDO approach with the Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC) – one of the leading data space technologies. A special focus is on demonstrating the compatibility of alternative developments in data space architecture.
Data spaces are becoming increasingly important as a basis for secure and efficient data exchange between various organizations, industries, and countries. They foster innovation by allowing companies and research institutions to collaborate on data, share insights, and develop new products, services, and business models. A key feature of these data spaces is their distributed, decentralized structure. Networking data spaces is becoming a critical factor for economic development, scientific advancement, and strengthening digital sovereignty.
In general, data spaces exhibit great heterogeneity concerning technical and organizational components. Architectural and standardization decisions can vary significantly by industry, with different standards for data description. This diversity in data formats and standards leads to compatibility issues when exchanging data between participants from different data spaces.
FAIR Digital Objects as a Universal and Independent Data Standard
Fair Digital Objects (FDOs) implement the FAIR principles according to the EU’s Data Governance Act. They aim to make digital objects findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. By utilizing technologies for persistent linking, extensive metadata descriptions, and secure data exchange protocols, FDOs promote a transparent, secure, and sustainable digital ecosystem.