Data is becoming increasingly important for companies and represents a strategic resource for business success. The more it gains in value, the greater the need to protect and control it - a crux when, at the same time, the increasingly complex range of services and new digital business models require a continuous exchange of data. Against this backdrop, twelve Fraunhofer Institutes have been working on a solution for two years: the Industrial Data Space. The first milestone has now been reached: using state-of-the-art IT technologies, an architecture for a secure data space has been created and the first cross-industry use cases have already been implemented.

The BMBF-funded pre-competitive research project is now entering a second round with funding of five million euros. "Our German and European companies should be sure that their data is in good hands with the Industrial Data Space concept. If we succeed in making this an international standard, it will also be an advantage for the German economy," says Federal Research Minister Prof. Johanna Wanka. The aim of the upcoming funding phase is to position the Industrial Data Space in the interplay of international architectural approaches, such as those currently being developed by the Industrial Internet Consortium from the USA or the Industrial Value Chain Initiative from Japan - because data does not stop at national borders in the globally networked economy.

"The Industrial Data Space has met with enormous interest in numerous workshops and discussions during Germany's G20 presidency. Data sovereignty 'Made in Germany' has been well received," explains Prof. Boris Otto, Head of Research at the Industrial Data Space initiative and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, adding: "We are in talks with partners from countries such as Argentina, China, India, Japan, Mexico and the USA in order to establish the Industrial Data Space internationally."

The project is developing technical solution models for data sovereignty to ensure interaction with various international digital standards. In close cooperation with the user association, the Industrial Data Space Association, Fraunhofer researchers then implement the results directly at partner companies in use cases.

With 74 member companies from 13 different countries, the association continues to grow strongly internationally. In addition to Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens and Volkswagen, companies such as Huawei from China and research partners such as the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) are also represented in the association. The work of the Industrial Data Space initiative is carried out in close coordination with the activities of the Industry 4.0 platform.