Reference Center for Sectoral Data Spaces

The Sectoral Data Space Reference Center, known as CRED, is a key initiative framed within the Sectoral Data Space Impetus Plan 2024-2026.

The Data Space Reference Centre is a highly specialized unit of the General Data Directorate for the exercise of its competences in promoting the economy of data and data spaces.

The Center’s mission is to support the General Data Directorate in promoting the technical deployment of data spaces, providing methodological and technical guidance, dynamizing data space ecosystems throughout the Spanish national geography, as well as developing common and enabling elements that accelerate and consolidate the deployment of data spaces, helping data spaces to scale and achieve a financial balance that allows them to be sustainable.

In the development of its activity plan, the Data Space Reference Center is successfully deploying several high-value products and services to the data space community in Spain that are described below.

The Data Space Reference Center is leading the development of a Technical Reference Framework for data spaces in Spain. This framework defines architectures, maturity models and recommendations for promoters and participants, including implementation guides and evaluation criteria. Among the outstanding references is the recent publication of the UNE CTN71/SC43 specifications of “definition and characterization of data spaces”. In addition, in collaboration with UNE, the Data Space Reference Center is a national point of contact with the industry and the expert community in the field of standardization, as well as with the European and international initiatives of reference. The Framework will address in its roadmap the development of standards and specifications to define the maturity model, the assessment of the conformity of data spaces, interoperability, among others.

In terms of experimentation, the Data Space Reference Center will direct the future National Network of Data Space Demonstration Centers. This Network aims to coordinate the set of demonstration and experimentation capabilities deployed in Spain, providing technological and business experimentation environments, connecting potential participants and facilitating the validation of business solutions and use cases in real conditions. The Network will have a portfolio of common services and a governance scheme that will lead the Data Space Reference Center.

El Centro de Referencia de Espacios de Datos será el encargado de gestionar el Observatory of Data Spaces and their Enabling Technologies. This Radar constitutes the reference of the data space market, radiographing the different ecosystems deployed, cases of use, technologies used, participating entities, technological suppliers, technical standards used, common elements deployed among others. The Radar will allow the permanent monitoring of the national market and the measurement and publication of impact indicators of data spaces and their contribution to the data economy. The Radar will also be a reference inventory of the data space solutions available in the market and of leading companies and organizations.

In order to give visibility to the data spaces in Spain and generate confidence to the organizations that want to participate in them, the Data Spaces Reference Center will be responsible for supporting the General Data Directorate in the management of the data. Trusted List of Data Spaces. Through this list, compliance with technical and governance standards will be certified, granting a seal of excellence to spaces that exceed the evaluation process. The List will be based on the UNE CTN71/SC43 specifications, in particular those relating to definition, characterisation, maturity model, and interoperability.

The Data Space Reference Center has a highly specialized team of Strategy and Intelligence in Data Spaces To address analysis, studies and strategy design projects. This team provides market intelligence and strategic guidance for decision making. Among its actions is the promotion of the development of sectoral strategies of data spaces with the competent ministries and agencies, such as the strategy of mobility data spaces.

Among the services with the greatest impact of the Data Space Reference Center, the implementation of a powerful and dynamic Service for Promotion, Dissemination and Training in Data Spaces with one Portal of Contents and a vibrant Community of Knowledge around data spaces, as well as an ambitious Communication Action Plan, highlighting the creation of its own dissemination events, technical and awareness workshops, congresses, among other actions, as well as in collaboration with other associations and entities promoting it. The portal and the community will articulate the exchange of good practices, the generation of capacities and the dissemination of sectoral learning. The portal is a leading platform for the dissemination of data spaces in Spain.

En materia de formación, el Centro de Referencia de Espacios de Datos desarrolla un Training Plan with actions to make it easier for managerial and technical professionals to have a sufficient offer of training in the market to acquire the necessary skills to take advantage of the opportunity of the data spaces, completing with own training in case of identifying any market failure in the specialized offer.

Finally, we must highlight the flagship service of the Data Space Reference Center, which is the Service of Monitoring and Dynamization of Data Spaces. Through this service, specialized advisors are assigned to each space to accompany its deployment, identify barriers, streamline participation and facilitate the incorporation of new actors. General and specific workshops will be held for promoters and specialized participants and integrators and technology providers to facilitate the development of data spaces.

More information at: Data Space Reference Center | Inicio