The Eclipse Foundation has announced the formation of the Eclipse Dataspace Working Group (WG), which aims to foster new dataspaces based on open source technologies via the seamless exchange of data between private companies, governments, academia, and other institutions to create an ecosystem for technology innovation that spans the European Union (EU) and beyond.

The working group does not favour a specific industry or type of organisation. It is fully dedicated to enabling the global adoption of dataspace technologies to foster the creation and operation of trusted data-sharing ecosystems.

The mission of the Eclipse Dataspace WG is to provide a forum for individuals and organisations to build and promote open source software, specifications, and collaboration models needed to create scalable, industry-ready components based on open standards for dataspaces.

Founding members of the working group include a diverse set of organisations from both the public and private spheres, including Amadeus, Fraunhofer, IDSA, iShare, Microsoft, and T-Systems. The Eclipse Dataspace WG will focus on participating in standards development, implementation, and onboarding of existing open source projects, and guiding associated projects in alignment with the overarching goal of supporting a broad ecosystem of interoperable dataspaces.

To this end, the working group aims to foster a component-driven model that supports project collections in three distinct groups:

• Dataspace Core & Protocols (DCP): DCP focuses on the core protocol specifications and their standardisation. It also provides alignment between the protocol specifications and OSS projects implementing mandatory dataspace functionality.
• Dataspace Data Planes & Components (DDPC): DDPC focuses on alignment between projects that implement data plans, which are essential components for dataspaces, as well as additional optional elements that enable advanced dataspace scenarios. These include projects that are not essential to create a viable dataspace but add capabilities that increase the business value of dataspaces.
• Dataspace Authority & Management (DAM): DAM focuses on the alignment of tools and workflows to enable the implementation of dataspaces. Its associated projects will support Dataspace Authorities to manage their dataspaces. This includes policy management, member management, and starter kits for dataspace authorities.

Overall, the three endeavours aim to create an ecosystem of projects covering diverse aspects of dataspace solutions. Implementations are non-exclusive, and overlapping projects can exist. Protocols will be the unifying aspect between projects, providing minimum viable interoperability.

The Eclipse Dataspaces WG will also collaborate with existing organisations involved with dataspaces, including the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), iSHARE Foundation (iSHARE) and Catena-X, among others. Together with the Eclipse Dataspaces WG, these organisations will support one another in a host of ventures, including the formation of new dataspaces initiatives, the creation of Technical Compatibility Kits, and driving consensus around product roadmaps and new capabilities.