"Towards a Paradigm of Sharing"

Hubert Tardieu, independent member of the Gaia-X Board of Directors, recently spoke at the “Data-sharing in Europe: the implementation challenge” conference, organized at Paris Dauphine-PSL University on September 12, 2024. During this conference, and in a detailed article published earlier this summer, he advocated for an innovative and cross-border European data strategy.

Innovation is the main driver of economic competitiveness and the prosperity of modern societies. Recent major innovation trends have increasingly shifted from tangible goods to the digital space. Smart services and digital platform technologies have far surpassed traditional business models in terms of profit margins, growth rates, and scalability.

Data plays a critical role in this digital transition, constituting a key resource for innovative services and productivity gains across all sectors. Yet, a large portion of data remains underutilized – 80% of data in Europe four years ago – which poses a real economic challenge.

The European data strategy aims to create a framework for a fair and interoperable data economy, promoting data sharing within European data spaces. Implementation of this strategy has progressed through laws such as the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Data Act (DA), as well as the creation of pan-European initiatives and projects. This approach has also attracted global attention, with countries like the United States and China following similar paths.

However, the international context is evolving rapidly, and Europe must adapt its strategy to maintain its strategic autonomy in the face of global economic tensions and challenges posed by generative AI. While the latter offers countless opportunities, it requires significant computing power and access to high-quality data. The European Union must therefore accelerate its technological development and enhance its capacity to harness the value of its vast data reservoirs.

A report commissioned by the European Council highlights the importance of a “fifth freedom” to complement the four traditional freedoms of the single market (free movement of goods, services, people, and capital): “the fifth freedom will encompass several areas, including research, innovation, data, skills, knowledge, and education.” Europe must fully exploit its data resources and prevent them from benefiting external entities.

The new European Commission will need to build on the foundations laid in recent years by deploying the European data strategy and further developing it along six strategic axes:

Looking beyond European borders
Develop a data strategy that extends beyond the European internal market. As with goods exchanges, prioritize cross-border data sharing across global supply chains while promoting standards based on European values.

Open and quality-focused foundation models
Leverage high-quality data available in Europe to enrich generative AI foundation models. Ensure data sovereignty and utilize European resources, such as HPC clusters.

Data sharing for multilateral use cases
Foster innovation by combining company data with contextual and customer data. This opens the door to new business opportunities.

Open source and standardization
Promote open-source software and strengthen ties with international standards through collaborations with organizations like ISO.

Platform economy
Understand the economy of data spaces, which function like platforms with network effects. Encourage collaboration between actors to maximize the benefits of shared data infrastructures.

Automated compliance
Create legal frameworks to regulate the data economy while promoting technologies that facilitate legal compliance, such as standards engineering and automated compliance.

In conclusion, the future of the European digital economy relies not only on political strategies but also on adopting a data-sharing culture, a notion rooted in European values.

Read the original article:
https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2024/06/21/leurope-dans-leconomie-mondiale-des-donnees-vers-un-paradigme-du-partage/