Prof. Dr. Boris Otto is head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering
and Professor for Industrial Information Management at the Technical University of Dortmund.
At the Fraunhofer ISST he and his colleagues are researching
digital ecosystems for logistics, data management and health care.
In his Data Researchers Vlog, Prof. Otto highlights current digitization topics.
Today, Data Researchers is all about GAIA-X.
Today I would like to talk about a particularly current topic,
namely GAIA-X
I would like to answer three questions in particular.
The first question that probably moves most people is:
What is GAIA-X?
The second question, which is no less interesting, is:
Why do we need GAIA-X, what is it actually good for?
The third question that arises from this is:
What does all this have to do with the International Data Spaces,
i.e. the IDS initiative?
Let's start with the first question:
What is GAIA-X?
GAIA-X creates a networked data infrastructure for citizens and companies
in Germany and Europe and ultimately throughout the world.
A networked data infrastructure is particularly important
because GAIA-X is not just another central cloud platform,
but rather connects existing cloud offerings,
both central cloud platforms and local cloud platforms (so-called edge clouds).
After all, we can see, particularly in the industrial environment,
that we already have a whole range of different cloud offerings,
and the challenge is not to establish another central cloud,
but rather to intelligently link existing and new, to establish interopera-bility
i.e. to create the possibility of data exchange,
but at the same time to maintain data sovereignty,
i.e. to ensure that the data provider can exercise control over its data, even if it is shared.
This is what GAIA-X is all about.
GAIA-X thus aims for cloud and data sovereignty.
Let's talk about the second question:
Why is this important at all?
We have seen a major trend in recent years,
which can be described as a shift from mechanization,
which we have seen very strongly in recent decades and the last century,
to digitalization.
An essential feature of this development is the emergence
and existence of so-called platforms, we also speak of a platform economy.
We are all familiar with platforms from our private lives,
such as Facebook or Apple, but also Netflix.
Data is the raw material for successful platforms
and thus also for successful business models and ultimately also for successful economies.
So data is the raw material of the future and therefore
it is particularly important that we maintain control over the so-called data value chain.
The data value creation chain begins where the data originates,
for example in industrial operations in production, or in devices or products that we use.
Let's just think of cars that are moving sensors.
This is where the data is created.
And what happens to it then?
Data is then often cached and pre-processed locally.
On so-called edge cloud solutions and applications,
the data is then transferred to central cloud platforms,
where it is evaluated and analyzed.
Often this is done by machine learning.
Afterwards they are finally made available for use.
This entire data value chain is a very important element of sustainable business models.
It must therefore be in the interest of companies
in Germany and Europe to understand this value chain on the one hand
and to be able to help shape it on the other.
Our Federal Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, was therefore not wrong
to say yesterday at the Digital Summit in Dortmund that
it must be Europe's claim to be able to control and shape
all stations in this data value chain.
That's why this is important.
What does all this have to do with the International Data Spaces initiative?
We have already seen that this data value chain
is very much about two things:
the first point is that the data is not only created,
but it is stored.
They are cached locally and stored centrally in cloud platforms.
The second point is that these data are used.
If we have the claim to ensure data sovereignty over the entire data value chain,
then we must ensure that data sovereignty applies to data
data that is stored (data in rest) and to data that is used (data in use).
The IDS initiative is concerned with data sovereignty for the use of data,
i.e. data in use.
What we have been missing for a long time is ultimately the sovereignty
of the data that is held, that is, stored - data in rest.
This is where GAIA-X comes in.
Together, GAIA-X and IDS will merge to form an entire networked data infrastructure,
which will then provide the opportunity to design
and build the entire data value chain in a souve-like manner.
That's why this topic is of very high relevance
and also of very high urgency,
because we can see that these cloud platforms are spreading very strongly.
That is why it is a very important initiative that we started yesterday here in Dortmund.
To be more precise, it was initiated by the federal government
and we are grateful to be part of it.
It comes at the right time, it is urgent,
and it is a lot of fun to be part of it.
 
 
 
