Federated data exchange and data ecosystems

Organizations are increasingly required to share data with one another and with government bodies. This trend is largely driven by Europe, which emphasizes the removal of legal and technical barriers to data exchange. Data spaces (or data ecosystems) are being established for specific sectors. The European Health Data Space is at the forefront of this movement; it is legally enshrined, came into effect in 2025, and will be implemented in phases over the coming years. The European Business Wallet is expected to launch in 2027, aiming to simplify the secure and reliable exchange of data with government authorities. Various data ecosystems are also emerging in the Netherlands—such as the Federated Data Ecosystem (*Federatief Datastelsel*), which focuses on the reuse of data within the public sector. At the same time, this raises questions regarding interoperability between these types of data systems. The federated nature of data spaces inherently means that data will increasingly be retrieved directly from the source. This places new demands on internal data logistics. Danny Greefhorst provides an overview of these developments and clarifies what they mean in practical terms for your organization. After this session, you will know which developments to monitor, what choices need to be made regarding your data architecture, and where to begin.

The presentation will address questions such as:

• What do the European data strategy and key European Commission regulations—such as the revised eIDAS regulation and the European Business Wallet regulation—entail, and what are the implications for organizations?
• What are data spaces and data ecosystems? What is the federated nature of these ecosystems, and how does it affect an organization’s internal data architecture?
• Which exchange standards are essential—in both the short and long term—to ensure your organization can continue to collaborate seamlessly with other organizations? Will all exchange have to take place in accordance with the dataspace protocol?
• What is the role of verifiable statements and associated standards, such as the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard, OpenID for Verifiable Credentials, and SD-JWT?
• Which metadata are essential to have in order to participate effectively in data ecosystems?