What is GAIA-X?

The processing of sensitive, personal, and public data by companies abroad has always been a legally contentious issue. Therefore, a data infrastructure must be introduced to ensure protection against unauthorised access. In the USA, the US Cloud Act is legally responsible and significant for cloud providers. US authorities can access all data controlled by US cloud providers partially without a court order. This also applies to data managed in data centres in Europe. Data processing and transfer between Europe and the USA have not been truly secure until now. GAIA-X aims to provide more transparency when handling data in Europe. There is significant interest in the development of this modern data infrastructure for Europe.

What is GAIA-X about?

European companies are heavily dependent on IT infrastructures in China and the USA for digitalisation. Every company needs to process vast amounts of data and store it in the long or short term. However, the EU's ideals regarding transparency and data protection, as exemplified by the server location in Germany, are rarely met in the USA and China. Even when foreign companies process data within the EU, there can be concerning data protection issues.

Promoting Data Security with a New Project

To strengthen the digital economy in Europe in the long term, funding for the GAIA-X project has been initiated. Politics, industry, business, and science have come together under the leadership of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs to create approaches for equal opportunities between companies in the EU and those outside the EU. In particular, France has emerged as a key partner in the GAIA-X community, which aims to establish a data infrastructure meeting the highest standards of innovation and sovereignty. Common standards and harmonised interfaces are intended to propel users across Europe into the digital future.

GAIA-X - Key Points

Europe is coming together for the higher purpose of data protection. This can already be seen in the legal form of the project. GAIA-X is an AISBL (Association internationale sans but lucratif), which, under Belgian law, represents a non-profit association. Hundreds of organisations and companies worldwide have committed to GAIA-X, thus providing data and cloud services that

• Set data protection standards for Europe
• Enable secure exchange of cross-border and cross-industry data
• Ensure global economic competitiveness
• Exist independently of foreign legal systems
• Prevent unwanted monopolies in data handling

The Path to a Sovereign Future

The key framework conditions for GAIA-X are ready. Federation services, an architecture of standards, and rules & policies are emerging, representing the core of the project. Of course, real applications are needed to create real added value for businesses and the public sector. The infrastructural basis such as cloud computing is covered by GAIA-X. The infrastructure is supported by a comprehensive data ecosystem and so-called federation services.

Basic Principles of GAIA-X

The project aims for a digital, transparent infrastructure. Data should be stored and shared securely and trustworthily. For this purpose, rules and guidelines are predefined. To promote the "European cloud," the following key points have been formulated:

• Unified European data protection
• Transparency and openness
• Trust and authenticity
• Self-determination and sovereignty
• Interoperability and modularity
• Maximum user-friendliness

In general, these principles are intended to make the digital market more transparent and fair, while also not compromising on important security elements such as data protection (e.g., regarding GDPR). While the opening of the market initially has a positive impact on the affected companies, it should not be forgotten that in the long run, every user will benefit from the new infrastructure.

Should GAIA-X Become a Hyperscaler?

Today's hyperscalers are Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. It may seem that GAIA-X aims to join this list as a cloud service. However, this project is more than just a cloud server. GAIA-X focuses on promoting the development of decentralized data sources and pools. Furthermore, data sources must be made interoperable through clear legal regulations in line with the European value alliance. Naturally, the cloud is expected to evolve into a network with a strong focus on big data and cloud computing. The decentralized nature of the GAIA-X network, based on open source, can be seen more as an alternative to hyperscalers.

Which application areas should GAIA-X cover?

Users will have access to a comprehensive range of high-quality services and products from cloud providers. Full transparency and certified data protection distinguish these services. The 40 use cases developed so far prove that GAIA-X provides significant added value for all parties involved.

The following 8 areas are currently covered by the project:

• Smart Living
• Industry 4.0/SMEs
• Health
• Finance
• Mobility
• Energy
• Agriculture
• Public Sector

The mentioned 8 application areas for GAIA-X were compiled by a team of various organisations and companies from different European countries. Key pioneering positions are held by Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Thus, the GAIA-X project will continue to evolve in the future, as the existing data infrastructure allows for new, unforeseen application possibilities.

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