A Deep Dive of the GAIA-X Project: Analysis of the Major Opportunities & Challenges

Background: In recent years, data has become an increasing relevant resource and source of competition for companies. However, the data market is currently dominated by US companies, limiting the independence of European companies. Therefore, the project GAIA-X was introduced, to create a federated, open data infrastructure based on common European values. As this constitutes a large project, involving multiple businesses, research institutes and governments, difficulties can arise which could possibly hinder the realization of the project.
Objective: To aid in the project’s success, the following paper analyzes key opportunities and challenges of GAIA-X, to help maintain clarity over its goals and understand challenges faced.
Methods: Several interviews with project members from different backgrounds were conducted. Open Coding was then used to interpret the given insights and identify the opportunities and challenges mentioned.
Results: The control, sovereignty and protection of data, as well as interoperability were seen as vital opportunities of the project. These would aid in the creation of data markets, foster innovation and lead to more independence of large service providers. ... mehrOn the other hand, the project still faces significant challenges and risks. Especially the coordination of the various project members poses a challenge, but also cyber security concerns and potential adoption issues by the market are mentioned.
Conclusion: GAIA-X bears many opportunities that have the potential to create major impact for companies regarding their data initiatives, but also faces some significant challenges which have to be overcome before the project can reach its full potential. To help aid tracking and overcoming these challenges as well as prevent them from becoming risks, a risk management team should be created as a central authority on all subject related matters.