The rapid expansion of global data production is a prominent contemporary trend, which has grown from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 175 zettabytes expected by 2025. Currently, approximately 80% of the data storage, processing and analysis is concentrated in data centers and centralized IT infrastructures, while only 20% occurs in connected smart devices. The landscape is poised for significant transformation by 2025.
In this context, in recent years, the digitalization of water management has become an essential necessity. Within the challenging scenario described by the Sustainable Development Goals, growing demographic pressures, climate variability and increasing water scarcity, digital technologies are considered the crucial enabler for the efficient allocation, monitoring and conservation of water resources. However, the diverse and often fragmented nature of water systems, coupled with data security and privacy issues, present some relevant barriers. Furthermore, ensuring equitable access to digital water solutions across all regions and communities requires careful consideration. It is worth noting that, despite these barriers, the benefits of water digitalization, including real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and better resource allocation, make it an essential frontier to address in addressing water-related challenges.
The implementation of the EU data strategy will catalyze this change, fostering the widespread adoption of multiple data spaces across Europe. From a high-level perspective, a data space is a community of organizations that operate consistently to share data based on an agreed set of technical, legal, and business procedures. Both European individuals and entities will have regained authority over data, ensuring a legitimate and equitable position within the digital sector. By 2030, this transformative scenario is poised to become the new norm, with an increasingly demanding public that demands no alternative. Data spaces At the European level, it will then be the frameworks and collaborative initiatives that will facilitate the secure and efficient exchange of data between EU member states and beyond.
Data spaces are designed to foster innovation, economic growth, and digital transformation by breaking down data silos and enabling the seamless exchange of information across diverse sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. They are a crucial component of the European Union’s broader data strategy, which emphasizes data sovereignty, privacy and security while promoting interoperability and data-driven decision-making. By creating harmonised data ecosystems, Europe seeks to harness the full potential of data for the benefit of its citizens and businesses, while ensuring compliance with data protection rules such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Key attributes of a common European data space include a secure and privacy-focused infrastructure designed to add, access, exchange, process and use data. This represents a coherent structure that facilitates equitable and transparent data access and use, supported by non-discriminatory principles, along with the implementation of robust and credible data governance mechanisms. An initiative of this type strictly adheres to the European principles and regulations , including those related to personal data protection, consumer protection and competition law. Within data spaces, data owners have the ability to authorize access to or share specific personal or non-personal data under your jurisdiction. In addition, the data made available in this context may be subject to reuse, either through compensation, including remuneration, or free of charge. This approach is marked by inclusion, welcoming a wide range of organizations and individuals to participate collaboratively. At this time, they have developed the following data spaces:
- Health
- Industrial manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Finance
- Mobility
- Green agreement
- Energy
- Government
- Skills
Although water does not have a specific data space, it is considered in part as a reference use case under the umbrella of the community of practice. Green Deal Data Space within the GREAT EU project. On the other hand, to create a specific data space for water, the WATERVERSE EU project aims to develop a Water Data Management Ecosystem (WDME), comprising software packages, algorithms, cloud computing services and general infrastructure, which can be used by water organizations to collect, store, analyze and leverage water domain data. More specifically, WATERVERSE WDME is expected to make data management practices and resources in the water sector accessible, affordable, secure, FAIR and easy to use. This will significantly improve data usability and interoperability of data-intensive processes, thus reducing the barrier to entry into data spaces, improving the resilience of water companies and increasing the perceived value of data and, therefore, the respective market opportunities.
In conclusion, we identify various challenges and opportunities associated with establishing a water data space. These challenges mainly encompass (i) issues related to data sovereignty, (ii) the need to create a level playing field for data access, (iii) the development of decentralized soft infrastructure, and (iv) the establishment of effective public-private governance structures. Seizing opportunities requires a comprehensive approach that can catalyze a significant digital transformation in several dimensions: human, organizational, technological, data-related and also in the governance dimension. The joint success of these dimensions will be essential to exploit the full potential of a water data space in the European context.
References
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/
- https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/2017-the-year-that-data-and-analytics-go-mainstream
- https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/strategy-data
- Design principles for data spaces: https://design-principles-for-data-spaces.org/
- https://www.greatproject.eu/
- https://waterverse.eu/
- https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/
- https://www.trauner.at/shop/emergency-preparedness