Guiding questions
Purpose of this Building Block Component: Intermediaries and operators play a crucial enabling role, making data accessible, trustworthy, and compliant with EU regulations. They help reduce complexity and lower barriers to entry for participants.
Key responsibilities may include:
Identity and access management (e.g. authenticating participants, issuing credentials)
Service brokerage (e.g. data search and matchmaking)
Compliance assurance (e.g. ensuring data usage aligns with CSRD, EPBD, or GDPR)
Onboarding and support for participants, especially SMEs and municipalities
Operators might include neutral industry bodies, domain-specific hubs, or trusted IT providers. Multiple operators can coexist under federated rules, enabling sectoral specialisation while ensuring interoperability through shared frameworks.
Identity & Access Management
Purpose: Authentication mechanisms (e.g., credentials issuance, federated logins). Clear participant identity verification.
Strategic Questions:
How will participants be authenticated (federated identity, credentials)?
What trust anchors or standards will be used?
Service Brokerage
Purpose: Data discovery and matchmaking between providers and users. Efficient search and service recommendation systems.
Strategic Questions:
Which discovery functionalities are critical for initial use cases?
Who is responsible for matching data providers with data consumers?
How can intermediaries ensure services scale as participation grows?
How can intermediaries’ models align with overall data space goals?
Compliance Assurance
Purpose: Ensuring data transactions align with regulatory frameworks (CSRD, EPBD, GDPR). Data governance and audit trail management.
Strategic Questions:
How will operators enforce compliance (policy engine, audit trails)?
Who will validate that data usage aligns with EU and national regulations?
How can neutrality be ensured while operators comply with rules?
Onboarding & Participant Support
Purpose: Dedicated support structures for smooth onboarding. Special focus on SMEs, municipalities, and smaller participants.
Strategic Questions:
Which resources or tools facilitate onboarding, especially for smaller or less digitally mature participants?
Who handles participant support, and how is quality assured?
Federation & Specialisation
Purpose: Sectoral or regional hubs enable specialisation, while interoperability among multiple operators is ensured through common rules.
Strategic Questions:
Will multiple domain-specific operators exist? What are their defined roles?
What mechanisms will ensure interoperability among the federated operators?
What contingency measures ensure continuity if an operator fails?
How can dependency risks be mitigated across multiple services?
Governance and Trust
Purpose: Transparent operational standards ensuring neutrality and trustworthiness of operators.
Strategic Questions:
What governance rules apply to operators? Are these clearly documented?
How is neutrality and fairness guaranteed across operators?
Last updated