Building upon the EOSC experience, EC announces creation of nine Common European data spaces

Building on the pioneering experience of the European Open Science Cloud, this week the European Commission released the European Strategy for Data, announcing the creation of nine Common European data spaces which will address specific sectors.

These data spaces will be developed in full compliance with data protection rules and according to the highest standards for cyber-security. Data spaces need to be complemented by policies that stimulate the use of data and demand for services enriched with data. The nine initial Common European data spaces will be the following:

• An Industrial data space, to support the competitiveness and performance of the EU’s industry
• A Green Deal data space, to use the major potential of data in support of the Green Deal priority actions on issues such as climate change, circular economy, pollution, biodiversity, and deforestation
• A Mobility data space, to position Europe at the forefront of the development of an intelligent transport system
• A Health data space, essential for advances in preventing, detecting and treating diseases as well as for informed, evidence-based decisions to improve the healthcare systems
• A Financial data space, to stimulate innovation, market transparency, sustainable finance, as well as access to finance for European businesses and a more integrated market
• An Energy data space, to promote a stronger availability and cross-sector sharing of data, in a customer-centric, secure and trustworthy manner
• An Agriculture data space, to enhance the sustainability performance and competitiveness of the agricultural sector through the processing and analysis of  data
• Data spaces for Public Administrations, to improve transparency and accountability of public spending and spending quality, fighting corruption, both at EU and national level
• A Skills data space, to reduce the skills mismatches between the education and training systems and the labour market needs

EOSC in the European Strategy for Data

The ongoing work on the EOSC will ensure seamless access and reliable re-use of research data to European researchers, innovators, companies and citizens through a trusted open data environment. The European Open Science Cloud will therefore provide the basis for a science, research and innovation data space bringing together data resulting from research and deployment programmes, ultimately connected and fully articulated with the newly established sectoral data spaces.

The Commission has also established two main goals related to the EOSC:

• Deploy EOSC operations to serve EU researchers by 2025; Steer the underpinning development of a stakeholder-driven EOSC governance structures, possibly in connection with the launch of the corresponding EOSC European partnership by the end of 2020;
• In the medium term, open up, connect and articulate EOSC beyond the research communities, with the wider public sector and the private sector from 2024 onwards.

The Commission launched a survey asking for feedback on the European Strategy for Data from the community by the 31st of March 2020. Results will feed into possible Commission initiatives in the coming months. Take the survey now!