BAIDATA Forum consolidates its position as the benchmark event on the data economy

June 16, 2023

DESCRIPCIÓN

• The holding of the 2nd BAIDATA Forum on 14 June at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao has meant the establishment of the BAIDATA association as the benchmark initiative on the data economy in the Iberian Peninsula
• The meeting was attended by nearly 300 people from different organisations interested in learning about BAIDATA and its work in the development of data spaces
• The BAIDATA Forum was attended by representatives of the main European organisations that coordinate the strategies for the development of data spaces IDSA and Gaia-X; as well as representatives of the European Commission, the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Bilbao City Council, together with a large group of companies

BAIDATA once again said yes to data at the 2nd BAIDATA Forum held on 14 June at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. This meeting has meant the consolidation of the association as a benchmark in the data economy in the Iberian Peninsula, highlighting the successful model of public-private collaboration in the development of the data economy.

The 2nd BAIDATA Forum brought together representatives of the main European data space organisations IDSA and Gaia-X together with representatives of the European Commission, the German Government, the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Bilbao City Council. Entities such as Catena-X, VDMA, the German Industry 4.0 Platform and a large number of collaborators, companies and organisations associated with BAIDATA also participated in the event.

The meeting was attended by nearly 300 people interested in both deepening their knowledge of the data economy and learning first-hand about the work and initial results of the BAIDATA ecosystem in the development of data spaces.

The Provincial Councillor for Economic Promotion of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Ainara Basurko, opened the event, highlighting the unique and strategic nature of the BAIDATA association, as well as the commitment to this unique initiative. She highlighted the role that BAIDATA is playing in the digital transformation of the region and the Iberian Peninsula. BAIDATA is consolidating itself as a benchmark in the acceleration of companies and their business models based on data. In the same sense and stressing the importance of joint action in data ecosystems, the director of Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship of the Basque Government, Leyre Madariaga, and the representative of the Bilbao City Council, Ane Miren Ibáñez Zugazaga, director of BilbaoTik, spoke at the closing of the event.

Trust, global standards and reference models for data sharing

The BAIDATA forum opened with a presentation by Matthias Kuom, Policy Officer of the European Commission, who shared with the audience the European data sharing strategy. Matthias Kuom pointed out the clear need to facilitate data sovereignty management mechanisms in order to be able to create shared data spaces and the reuse of data. Once this is achieved, European companies can be pushed towards new business models based on controlled and shared use of data. Lars Nagel, CEO of IDSA, illustrated the interoperability footprint and the need for public-private collaboration at all levels, such as that facilitated by BAIDATA, to create "a common digital infrastructure and services that protect the value of data spaces by design". He emphasised that three key elements are needed to achieve harmonised data sharing: trust, global standards and reference models.

Ute Burkhardt, Product Owner of the Catena-X Association & Industry Consortium, emphasised how "data sovereignty is an essential transparency tool for building trust between participants in the data economy". This encourages collaboration between companies and, above all, the use of data sharing. "Many companies plan to share their data, but need the right conditions and technology to do so with the necessary scale and trust. In a short period of time, we have witnessed an impressive mobilisation of data spaces and it is therefore crucial to ensure that every citizen and business has full confidence that their data is used exclusively for the purpose for which it is shared and with a public service vocation if appropriate". This was echoed by Andreas Faath, head of the German VDMA's Machine Tool Information Interoperability Department, who also pointed out the importance of digital activities in data spaces for a sector such as the machine tool industry in the midst of a digital transformation and servitisation of its products. Faath commented that "digitalisation has activated platforms that can scale and generate network economy effects based on the availability of data spaces to respond in an agile and standardised way to new industrial challenges".

Taking stock of BAIDATA's first year and looking to the future

Jose Echezarra, President of BAIDATA, shared with the attendees BAIDATA's plans to set its sights on Europe, a key objective to be able to deploy a common European data space. In this space, as pointed out in the different presentations, data sovereignty, trust so that data can be shared securely and a regulation that serves as a reference model will be sought. BAIDATA will grow from the local to participate in the new global industrial data chains.

The three areas of action in the data spaces were also presented: Society, Territory and Industry. These areas of action allow the natural development of business models and opportunities that go beyond vertical spaces such as health, security, education, mobility, energy, public administrations, smart cities, tourism, industry 4.0, construction or creative and cultural industries. At the same time, the association renewed its commitment to deepen its excellent range of services in the areas of innovation, talent management and ecosystems. BAIDATA will continue to develop pioneering spaces in the field of the data economy.

The work of data spaces in industry, society and territory

The three areas of action guided the round tables of the BAIDATA Forum. To talk about data spaces in industry, Laura Marrón, CEO of BAIC, moderated the table, as well as national and international company managers such as Laurent Lafaye from DAWEX, Rafael Ibeas from Aingura IloT, Joseba Bilbao from LKS Next and Toni Ventura from DATAPIXEL. The participants agreed that the key to business success is to define the business model and take advantage of the impact of data spaces.

The second panel dedicated to the area of data spaces for society was moderated by Óscar Lázaro, CEO of Innovalia Association and secretary of BAIDATA. Mike de Roode from Smart Connected Supplier Network, Roberto García from DINYCON, Jon Petralanda from CAF and Francisco Javier Seoane from Euskotren participated. They focused on the transport and mobility sector and how data sharing business models support the management of fleets and energy consumption, including cybersecurity services. The key, as pointed out by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, "is to anticipate 90% of cases and this is only possible with efficient data management".

The three areas of action were rounded off with Sergio Murillo, Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Sonia Taborcia, NTT DATA, Juan José Villa Parrado, EJIE and Ernesto Ruiz de Galarreta, NASERTIC as speakers and Carlos Ortiz Coterón, technical director of BiscayTIK to moderate the session on Society. "Data spaces allow this new generation of services to considerably improve health and care services and, consequently, provide greater value to society as a whole", stated BiscayTIK, an idea with which the rest of the companies agreed. It was also made clear that it is essential to stress the importance of privacy and that "no citizen should have any doubt that their data is used solely for the purpose of public service".

Breaking down barriers by creating and adopting common infrastructures in data spaces

The conference included a fourth round table, moderated by Xabier Mitxelena, president of CYBASQUE, with the participation of Emma Galindo of T-Systems, Mario Petruzzella of ARSYS, Begoña Laibarra of SQS and Héctor René Suárez of INCIBE. They discussed the collaboration between companies and the necessary steps to break down barriers when creating and adopting common infrastructures, giving special relevance to the validation of the technological components that make up the data spaces.

Then, in the fifth and last panel of the day, the moderator Thorsten Huelsman, COO of IDSA presented the "magic triangle of data" and gave way to a debate between Sebastian Buse from SOVITY, Jürgen Bretfeld from Advaneo GmbH, Charly Gerber from Swiss Smart Factory, and Diego Mallada from INDESIA, in which all agreed that data collection has to start locally, to be able to connect to a larger and larger space and on the important role of standardisation to generate common spaces and apply models".

To conclude the 2nd BAIDATA Forum, Boris Otto, CEO of Data Spaces Support Center, was present. In his new position, he commented on the European data situation. "Europe has an advantage, but data can only have value if it is used and we need to maximise that use," he told the audience. BAIDATA is a key player in the development of these data spaces and, in the words of the CEO, will continue to work to improve innovation in the data economy.