Focus on Gaia-X Hub Spain

Francisca Rubio, Director of the Spanish Gaia-X Hub, kindly shared with us some elements of the Hub’s strategic approach to data spaces in Spain.

“The Gaia-X Spain Association is the Spanish national hub of Gaia-X. Like all national hubs, Gaia-X Spain facilitates and supports the creation of European data spaces. They serve as a support point for the regional economy, relaying guidelines for the digital transformation strategy and funding opportunities to implement Gaia-X services.

But Gaia-X Spain goes beyond that. According to its statutes, it must promote the data economy and, in particular, data spaces across the country. Therefore, it collaborates with all other initiatives, such as FIWARE, IDSA, and BDVA’s i-Hubs, to develop and promote data spaces in Spain. In this way, Spain is actively working on the new concept of the Data Spaces Alliance Hub, with four strong initiatives to lead this European concept.
Gaia-X Spain is established as a non-profit association with partners who pay an annual membership fee based on the size and type of organization. This situation is beneficial, as it fosters real commitment from the partners, who work voluntarily on the Gaia-X project.

Currently, Gaia-X Spain has 10 working groups:

• 7 dedicated to verticals representing Spain’s most important sectors: tourism, agri-food, mobility, industry, health, commerce, and energy.
• 3 transversal groups that support the previous ones: technology, legal, and ethics.

In the technology group, in particular, activities are focused on:

• monitoring and testing data space technologies,
• drafting best practices and guidelines to support partners in adopting data spaces,
• developing a library of software components to help our partners develop and test data spaces,
• developing a training platform in collaboration with other hubs, such as France or Austria, and Gaia-X AISBL,
• developing convergence actions with other DSBA initiatives.

This year, we are working on several main objectives:

• Becoming the reference point for data spaces in Spain
• Becoming the main point of contact for the government regarding data spaces
• Increasing participation in working groups and European projects
• Improving the data space ecosystem in Spain

To achieve this, we are creating contact points and active collaborations with the Spanish government, identifying key needs within ecosystems, and working to integrate new stakeholders. And, of course, we must continue the dissemination and training activities that we are developing.”