Governance in Data Spaces
Role of governance in data spaces
To ensure a data space thrives, effective governance is essential. Within data ecosystems, some guiding principles help establish governance structures, emphasising key elements like trust, liability for licence violations, and the confidentiality of data transactions.
Key Activities in Data Space Governance include:
Defining, establishing, and managing the data space.
The governance body plays a central role in shaping the data space by defining its purpose, setting legal and operational frameworks, and managing its overall structure. This includes deciding what types of data will be shared, outlining the rules for participation, and ensuring that the space is aligned with its goals. Once established, the body continues to oversee the daily operations, making sure everything runs efficiently and according to plan.
Facilitate the ongoing development of the data space.
Governance is responsible for ensuring the data space adapts and grows over time. This involves identifying areas where improvements or new technologies can be introduced, updating policies to meet evolving legal and regulatory requirements, and encouraging innovation among participants. By doing so, the governance body ensures that the data space remains relevant and competitive.
Define through co-creation what standards are used within the data space
Participants in the data space work together with the governance body to define important standards, such as how data is structured (semantics), how systems communicate (APIs), and how trust is established among participants. This co-creation process ensures that the standards reflect the collective needs of all participants, making the data space fair and effective for everyone involved.
Oversee operational processes like onboarding and off-boarding.
Governance also handles the important tasks of managing how participants join or leave the data space. This includes setting up clear guidelines for onboarding new members, ensuring they meet necessary trust and security requirements, and managing the off-boarding process to protect data integrity when participants exit. These processes help maintain a stable and secure environment within the data space.
Facilitate conformance testing
To ensure that all participants follow agreed-upon standards and protocols, governance facilitates regular conformance testing. This process checks whether systems and data exchanges meet the technical and legal requirements of the data space. By enforcing these standards, governance helps maintain the quality and trustworthiness of the ecosystem.
Monitor the data space, including compliance and dispute resolution.
Governance plays a crucial role in monitoring the data space to ensure that all participants comply with the agreed standards and rules. This includes managing audits, resolving disputes between participants, and addressing any breaches of the legal framework. By doing so, governance helps maintain trust and security across the space.
Governance Structure and Sustainability in Data Spaces
Data space governance is generally entrusted to a governing body that acts on behalf of the stakeholders involved. This body plays a crucial role in ensuring that the interests and concerns of all participants are adequately represented and addressed Regardless of its form, the governing body is essential for creating a transparent and accountable framework for decision-making, establishing trust among participants, and guiding the overall development and sustainability of the data space
One of the key roles of the governance organiser is to assess the "trustworthiness" of data space participants. This assessment can be handled by the governing body itself or given in hands of other participant within the data space or handed over to an organisation or overarching body outside the data space.
Fundamental responsibility of the governance organiser is to evaluate the "trustworthiness" of participants in the data space. This assessment is crucial for ensuring that all members adhere to agreed standards and practices, thereby maintaining the integrity and security of the data environment.
The governance body itself often conducts this assessment, using established criteria to evaluate factors such as a participant's compliance with legal and ethical standards, data management practices, and previous conduct within the data space. By doing so, the governing body can ensure that all participants are reliable and that the overall ecosystem remains secure and trustworthy.
Data spaces can incorporate additional clauses, including financial contributions, collective decisions on new participants, collective authorisations for data checks, and exceptions for specific players with unique roles or liabilities.
The overarching cooperation or the agreement requires consensus among data space participants on functional, technical, operational, and legal aspects. While some agreements are reusable (e.g., rulebooks), others are specific to use cases. Using a legal "umbrella agreement" from a Trust Framework establishes legal interoperability across data spaces, facilitating the use of each other's data sources with shared certainty on user rights, liability, and protection.
The operational maturity of services is crucial. Clear and committed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) among data space participants are essential. iSHARE Trust Framework provides basic SLA, but as each data space is unique, it can be more stringent. It's vital to make agreements about access, incident management, release management, and reporting. These are provided by the iSHARE Trust Framework and be further built upon by the data spaces.
Ensuring the sustainability of the data space involves determining financing models, such as membership fees and subscriptions. Having a strategy and working business model is crucial. Questions related to governance continuity include monitoring compliance, determining who pays for services, defining participation rates, establishing rates for different data services, and outlining the admission process for new participants to safeguard interests.
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