Marking the occasion of the GAIA-X Summit, Engineering — already one of the first global members of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) since 2018 and a promoter of its deeply strategic and structural mission in Italy — announces that it has joined the GAIA-X Foundation as a Day 1 Member. Indeed, the work of the IDSA has provided the Foundation with an engine for the development of the GAIA-X project, and today sets the de facto standard for secure data sharing.
GAIA-X is supported by Europe’s own policies, manufacturing sectors and research system, for the benefit of Europe as a whole. The purpose of the initiative is to develop next-generation data infrastructure based on an open, transparent, secure and completely reliable digital ecosystem in which data and services can be made available, gathered and shared in a context independent of physical infrastructure.
In other words, GAIA-X is no mere Cloud: it is an initiative by Europe and for Europe, aimed at creating a unified and regulated ecosystem of Cloud services based on data spaces, thus enabling the governance of all digital transformation processes.
We are living in a time of rapid changes and digital evolutions; where borders and limits, for both companies and society in general, are constantly shifting. GAIA-X now represents the cutting edge of an economy based on data; on shared, interoperable infrastructure; and on the resulting development of European Data Spaces.
As such, it has a contribution to make to the economic growth of the continent, boosting both its productivity and its competitiveness.
The very nature of the European Union, established to build a shared ground for economics, human rights and general development, means that it cannot fail to assert an identity in the technological sector too, because companies and society as a whole rely on technology for their advancement. GAIA-X is precisely the technological infrastructure where these values can be expressed.
Dario Avallone, R&D Director of Engineering and the sole Italian Board Member of IDSA, comments: “Engineering has always adopted a "best fit” approach towards technology, which has enabled it to develop its own solutions by integrating the best technologies on the market, supported by strategic partners. This is exactly what GAIA-X stands for. We firmly believe that joining this initiative — alongside our substantial involvement with the IDSA, in which we are investing significant time and resources — will give rise to a Data Space Economy, exploiting digital solutions based on principles of data sovereignty and on the highest standards of security and interoperability.
This will allow our clients to explore new business opportunities, which are currently out of reach without a project like GAIA-X, in all fields: from the industrial sector to medical diagnostics, finance, Public Administration, energy, mobility and agriculture, to name just a few. Technological development may be unstoppable; but it is possible to determine the direction that it grows in. In this case, the direction brings us closer to such values of the European Union as openness and accessibility, while at the same time guaranteeing data protection and sovereignty”.
“As is often the case,” adds Orazio Viele, CTO Engineering Group and CEO of Engineering D.HUB, “technological evolution comes swiftly, and it is important that policy-makers are able to keep up with it and interpret it. In the case of GAIA-X, we’ve already witnessed a major focus and interpretation efforts in terms of European policies, but now it is important for Member States embrace the crucial importance of setting out common standards to improve the interoperability of data and solutions, by promoting the strengthening and widespread adoption of GAIA-X. This is the way to guarantee equal access to the opportunities offered by the new digital ecosystems built on transversal technological platforms and vertical services for companies”.
Despite growing awareness of the value of data, and an ever-increasing understanding of its strategic importance, we are still only at the dawning of this new era.