Incubator of Trusted B2B Data Sharing ecosystems of collaborating SMEs linked to Digital Innovation Hubs

Project Information

i4Trust

Grant agreement ID: 951975

DOI

10.3030/951975

Project closed

EC signature date 10 June 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 5 872 087,50

EU contribution

€ 5 833 837,50

Coordinated by

FIWARE FOUNDATION EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - i4Trust (Incubator of Trusted B2B Data Sharing ecosystems of collaborating SMEs linked to Digital Innovation Hubs)

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

i4Trust (https://i4trust.org/) provides a complete framework which, combined with education, coaching and initial funding, will boost the creation of Data Spaces for trustworthy and effective data sharing. Ecosystems of collaborating SMEs and supporting DIHs will emerge in a sustainable way around such Data Spaces, where innovative services will flourish around the implementation of new data value chains.

The i4Trust framework consists of an integrated suite of mature open standard-based technology building blocks coming from FIWARE and iSHARE [1][2]. These technology building blocks cover the basic taxonomy of building blocks required for the creation of data spaces according to the widely adopted Design Principles for Data Spaces [3]:

- Data Interoperability: NGSI-LD API [4] and smart data models [5][6] for the (digital twin) data exchange among data space participants (smart applications)
- Data Sovereignty and Trust:
+ iSHARE Satellite Trust Anchor Services, compatible with eIDAS, enabling to verify trusted identity of participants in i4Trust data spaces [7].
+ A decentralized Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework based on:
> OpenID Connect for Identity Management
> An ABAC (Attribute Based Access Control) framework comprising components implementing XACML-compliant PEP, PDP, PAP/PMP, and PIP functions relying on a Access Policy Definition Language defined as part of the iSHARE Scheme [8]
+ Data value creation: Service Catalogue and Marketplace functions based on TM Forum standards [9]

Data Spaces built based on i4Trust technology building blocks can be governed relying on business/legal, operational and organisational agreements like the ones defined in the iSHARE scheme [10].

Besides the i4Trust framework, i4Trust will build a Community of Practice [11] where Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) will play an essential role, helping to scale up adoption of i4Trust among SMEs in Europe, covering multiple domains.

i4Trust value proposition will contribute to building trust with data users and data suppliers by supporting 32 experiments [12] that will involve at least 150 SMEs and 32 Digital Innovation Hubs. i4Trust will help them to understand the demand for data, establishing data sharing partnerships, identifying concrete use cases relying on trusted sharing of data, by adopting user-friendly and proven technology building blocks, as well as governance agreements covering all business/legal, operational, and organisational aspects in Data Spaces. Up to 3.200.000 € of financial support to third parties (FSTP) is contemplated for the support of these experiments to be selected through 2 Open Calls.

You can follow progress of i4Trust on LinkedIn [13], Twitter [14] and YouTube [16] channels.

[1] - https://github.com/i4Trust/building-blocks
[2] - https://i4trust.github.io/building-blocks/docs/i4Trust-BuildingBlocks_202109.pdf
[3] - https://design-principles-for-data-spaces.org/
[4] - https://www.etsi.org/committee/cim
[5] - https://github.com/smart-data-models
[6] - https://smartdatamodels.org/
[7] - https://ishare.eu/ishare/roles/roles-breakdown/#h-satellite
[8] - https://dev.ishare.eu/delegation/delegation-request.html
[9] - https://projects.tmforum.org/wiki/display/API/Open+API+Table
[10] - https://ishare.eu/ishare/benefits/for-data-spaces/
[11] - https://spaces.fundingbox.com/c/i4trust
[12] - https://i4trust.org/experiments/
[13] - https://www.linkedin.com/company/i4trust/
[14] - https://twitter.com/i4trust
[15] - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCScal9eWPmKfs-VZrurDLFg

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Integration of FIWARE and iSHARE technologies have been completed covering all the technology pillars: data interoperability, data sovereignty and trust, data value creation. Open source components integrated as part of the FIWARE Catalogue have been made available on GitHub which, combined with iSHARE legal agreements, provide the basis for creation of data spaces for trusted and effective data sharing.

At the same time, all tools and procedures required to bring support to the creation of the i4Trust Community of Practice have been put in place. As active members of this Community, 44 DIHs have been engaged so far in the dissemination of the i4Trust vision, mission and value proposition, and the number continues growing as we speak. Tools (e.g. DIHs Onboarding Kit, DIHs Working Group private space with the i4Trust Community) and training (Train the Trainers Programme) has been provided to onboard DIHs in their crucial role as part of the Community. Furthermore, they have been further invited to engage in the i4Trust Ambassadors Programme.

In order to ignite the i4Trust ecosystem, two open calls are planned in the project, of which the first open call was completed. The i4Trust 1st Open Call started on 12 May 2021 at 10:00 (CEST) and ended on 25 October 2021 at 14:00 (CEST). A total of 170 experiment proposals were initiated and 47 finally submitted, of which 13 experiments were finally selected to enter the i4Trust mentoring programme. 73 SMEs and 13 DIHs from 14 countries formed the consortiums behind selected experiments, assigning 1.380.000 € of funding out of the 3.200.000 € budgeted for FSTP along the duration of the project..
Ecosystem building activities have been carried out following a well established communication and dissemination plan.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

i4Trust has delivered the first complete framework in the market that covers all the building block pillars required for the creation of interoperable data spaces [1]. This way, i4Trust positions clearly beyond the state of the art regarding data spaces.
Besides this positioning, i4Trust is bringing a number of significant innovations:

- A complete set of open source components, integrated as part of the FIWARE Catalogue, implementing a decentralized IAM framework in data spaces and complying with iSHARE specifications.
- Open source components supporting the implementation of standard-based marketplace services supporting the publication and monetization of data access and data processing (application) services, and supporting the integration with IAM functions, within data spaces.
- Availability of a community-driven catalogue of data models supporting interoperability within data spaces.
- Definition of a standard mechanism for near real-time data exchange in data spaces
- Creation of ecosystem/community of practice bringing together communities of FIWARE and iSHARE
- Cascade approach enabling to scale up the adoption of i4Trust building blocks relying on DIHs

Thanks to i4Trust, first pioneer data spaces will be created involving SMEs unleashing the potential of sharing data for the improvement of business purposes and/or the creation of innovative services. In addition, a number of DIHs will be equipped with the skills to scale up the ecosystem.
Results of i4Trust are taken as input for technical convergence discussions taking place under the Data Spaces Business Alliance launched by BDVA, FIWARE Foundation, Gaia-X and IDSA [2].

[1] - https://design-principles-for-data-spaces.org/
[2] - https://data-spaces-business-alliance.eu/

i4Trust Logo

i4Trust Banner (black)

i4Trust Building Blocks

i4Trust 2nd Banner (black)

i4Trust Banner (white)

i4Trust symbol