Secure data rooms in industrial value creation networks

The Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA) and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) are pooling their expertise in order to more closely dovetail industrial data exchange and the use of digital twins in the future. The cooperation combines two central building blocks of the digital industry: while IDTA is developing the standard for the digital twin based on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), IDSA is addressing interaction in decentralized data spaces with the standardization of the Dataspace Protocol. The interaction between the two standards means that data from digital twins can be recorded in a structured manner and simultaneously provided and used in a trustworthy manner between companies, sectors and value creation networks via data spaces.

The aim of the cooperation is to further advance interoperability and data sovereignty in the industry and thus enable new data-based applications and business models. The agreement was officially signed on March 12, 2026 at a joint event where participants from both communities came together to discuss joint activities and future initiatives.

"The combination of AAS and the Dataspace Protocol creates decisive added value for industrial data ecosystems. Together, we are making an important contribution to standardization in industrial value networks. Our aim is to provide companies with a reliable basis for describing data from digital twins in an interoperable way and at the same time sharing it trustworthily between partners," says Christian Mosch, Managing Director of IDTA.

"Digital twins offer industrial companies great potential for greater efficiency and new innovations," says Lars Nagel, CEO of IDSA. "This potential arises in particular when the data generated in the digital twin does not remain isolated, but can be used securely for AI applications and partners along the value chain. This is exactly what data spaces enable: they create trustworthy access to data without companies losing control over it. This creates the basis for new data-driven solutions that benefit everyone involved."

The IDTA

The Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA) is the international organization for the standardization and further development of the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), the digital twin for industrial assets. With members from industry, IT, research and associations, the IDTA shapes the technical and organizational basis for interoperable digital twins along the entire value chain.

The Asset Administration Shell enables a standardized, machine-readable description of products, components, machines and systems and thus creates the prerequisite for efficient data exchange in industrial ecosystems such as Manufacturing-X. The AAS also provides a technological basis for implementing the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) by providing structured, interoperable product information that is available throughout the entire life cycle.

The IDTA develops specifications, submodel templates and implementation guides, coordinates international standardization activities (including IEC 63278) and promotes the global industrial implementation of AAS. The aim of the IDTA is to establish digital interoperability as the basis for resilient, sustainable and competitive industrial value creation.

The IDSA

The IDSA is a non-profit organization focused on developing and establishing standards for Data Spaces - trusted environments where organizations can share data while retaining full control over its use.

IDSA members have been developing key technologies for data spaces since 2016. This work has led to the IDS Reference Architecture Model (IDS-RAM), the IDSA Rulebook, the Dataspace Protocol, standardization and interoperability efforts and IDS certification, among other things.