Data Researchers - The Video Series with Institute Director Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto

In his video series "Data Researchers", Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto sheds light on current digitization topics - in a concise, informative and well-founded manner.

Prof. Otto is Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering and Professor of Industrial Information Management at the Technical University of Dortmund. He is also a board member of Gaia-X, European Association for Data and Cloud, AISBL and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fraunhofer ICT Group. This makes him a digitization expert in demand at national and international level for topics related to the data economy and data spaces. His research focuses on industrial information management, business and logistics networks, and methods for designing digital business solutions. Within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, he is the head of the "International Data Spaces", which aim at standardized and sovereign data exchange between companies.

The videos have English subtitles.

#digitalproductpassport #cross-border #datasharing #dataexchange #dataspaces #sustainability #identitymanagement #interoperability #digitalgipfel

Cross-border movement of goods and commodities, global supply chains across different economic areas: our globally networked production requires trustworthy data exchange in order to be able to bundle and use information from the entire supply chain in a standardized way. This is needed, for example, to create a digital product passport. This digital product passport collects standardized data across the entire life cycle of a product, such as the battery components in an electric car. It thus supports the most sustainable subsequent use of these valuable parts. What is needed for this? Semantic standards, similar calculation methods and interoperable identity and authentication management. Both the German Federal Government and the European Commission see data spaces as an adequate means of solving these challenges. How this can be achieved will also be the subject of a session at the German government's Digital Summit (Digitalgipfel) in October 2024.

#sustainability #datareadiness #dataexchange #dataressource #datavaluechain #datagovernance #ManufacturingX

How well do companies handle their data? This question was already examined in 2019 by a study in the DEMAND project on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics. The result was sobering: 84% of companies described themselves as beginners in terms of data readiness. Although many companies are now a step further in terms of their data management, there is still a lot to do.

In order to be future-proof, companies need to have their data value chain under control - from recording with the help of sensors, pre-processing and making available, intermediate storage in clouds to cataloging and sharing. What do you need for this? A functioning data architecture management system and the definition of roles and responsibilities within the company as part of data governance.

#nutzerorientierungs #usercentricity #datasharing #DataSpaces #easytouse #vision #userjourney #customerjourney #customerapp #datasovereignty

Data spaces as decentralized data integration architectures allow data to be shared fairly and confidently. A wide variety of companies already offer such data spaces. If you want to set up a data space, you can already choose from a selection of offers.But what does the next step need to be to make data spaces even better? In this episode, Boris Otto focuses on user-centricity in data spaces. Using the example of micronavigation for the automotive sector, he describes different user groups and their individual "user stories" and "user journeys". He also argues why it is important right now to expand the offerings in data spaces (more participants, services and data offerings) and to make them as attractive and simple as possible for users. He envisions a future in which the use of data spaces can function as smoothly for users as the use of common customer app ecosystems.

#DigitalEcosystems #DataGovernance #DataSovereignty #DataSpaces #DigitalTwin #CyberSecurity #AI #ZeroTrustTechnologies #OpenSource

The German government's "Future Strategy for Research and Innovation" provides a blueprint for how technical innovations can contribute to making Germany and Europe  more sustainable, competitive and sovereign. Fraunhofer is ready to collaborate in digital and innovation ecosystems because it will take the strength, openness, competence and shared vision of many, as well as governance, to achieve this goal. In his video, Boris Otto identifies three examples with great potential for the future of Germany and Europe: basic AI models (foundation models) without technological dependencies, digital twins as a connection between a tangible good and its digital representation with potential for future predictions (recommender systems) and cyber security and cyber security management (zero-trust technologies, e.g. for the development of decentralized autonomous organizations).

#DataSpaces #CatenaX #Gaia-X #datainfrastructure #DataAct #DSSC #interoperability #CommonEuropeanDataSpaces

A large number of different initiatives have emerged around the development of data spaces - examples include the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), the Gaia-X AISBL, domain-specific data spaces such as the Catena-X Automotive Network, the Mobility Data Space and Eona-X, as well as coordination projects such as the EU-funded Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC). But how does it all fit together - and do we need it all?

In this video, Boris Otto shows how the individual initiatives act as cogs in the Data Spaces machine and contribute to the overall goal of building a fair data economy in Europe with a common data infrastructure for the data spaces. Boris Otto is confident that this major task will succeed and invites you to join him at the Data Spaces Sympo-sium in March 2024 to help shape the big picture and find out where the individual initiatives stand. Because one thing is certain: It will remain exciting!

#CircularEconomy #CatenaX #DataSpaces #Industry4.0 #DataSharing #eMobility #Dataplatform #StrongerTogether

A functioning circular economy is of enormous importance for business and industry. This also applies to the automotive industry, which needs to make the use of its complexly produced and expensive components more sustainable. Catena-X, as a network for the automotive industry, has set itself the goal of creating a better data situation about the components and resources used through the trustworthy and sovereign exchange of data on a distributed data platform. One example is the battery passport, which brings together all the information about a battery installed in an e-car, from production to installation and use to secondary recycling.  

Circular economy is a top topic for platform research, for example at the MIT Platform Strategy Summit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in July. If you want to use components as resource-efficiently as possible throughout their entire life cycle, you need an enormous amount of data from a wide range of players who produce the components, use them, repurpose them, and so on. This data must be exchanged and used sensibly with the help of platforms such as Catena-X. The Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST contributes its expertise on data spaces to initiatives such as Catena-X in order to enable data use in the sense of the circular economy. Thus, from a data perspective, the institute makes an important contribution to a sustainable economy in Germany and the world. 

#Industry4.0 #Resilience #DataSharing #Manufacturing-X #Catena-X #Gaia-X #StrongerTogether

The production and manufacturing industry needs better resilience of production networks and supply chains to reduce dependencies. It needs to become more sustainable and achieve its contribution to climate change goals. And it wants to secure and expand its competitiveness in the long term.

Companies must join forces to work quickly and agilely in flexible and customized production processes. For this they need the readiness and a technical possibility to exchange data, because the availability and usability of data is a basic requirement for successfully dealing with these challenges.

Manufacturing-X offers industry a data space in which this data exchange can be implemented. The initiative was launched by a broad alliance of industry, politics, associations and science. It can draw on extensive previous experience and developments from initiatives such as Catena-X, Verwaltungsschale, OPCOA, Gaia-X and International Data Spaces. The participating associations VDMA, ZVEI and Bitkom are particularly important as multipliers for the companies. Their common goal is to raise industrial manufacturing to the next level.

You can find the official website of Manufacturing-X here

#DataSpacesSupportCentre #DataSpaces #DataSharing #DataSovereignity #DigitalEurope #EuropeanCommission

The Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) aims to help European businesses navigate, build and use data spaces. In the vlog, Prof. Dr. Boris Otto explains why the DSSC is so important for the entire data spaces community, because Europe's "data treasure" should be used better and more widely than before.

The Data Spaces Support Centre is a platform for exchanging information and ensuring interoperability between Europe's various data space initiatives. Not only are functional, fundamental aspects of the Data Spaces Support Centre important in mutual networking, but also its role as a source of advice for stakeholders to set standards and recommend uses.

The Data Spaces Support Centre is funded by the European Commission as part of the Digital Europe programme. It is considered an essential pillar of Europe's data strategy.

More information on the Data Spaces Support Centre can be found here

#DataSpaces #DataGovernance #DataSharing #DataAct #Healthcare #Mobility #DataSovereignity

What is a data space anyway and what does it have to do with the European data strategy? This is just one of the topics explained in the new publication "Designing Data Spaces". What the book is about is presented by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto in his new vlog.

The authors, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael ten Hompel and Prof. Dr. Stefan Wrobel, who have been recruited to contribute to the 33 chapters, also look at the basic technologies needed to build a data space, and at concrete data spaces and use cases from various fields and domains such as HealthCare and Mobility.

The final part of the book presents concrete solutions for data room technologies as well as apps that run in the data room. Particularly noteworthy here is the collaboration with numerous colleagues and organizations from different countries and industries. In this way, the team creates a comprehensive and versatile overview of the benefits of data rooms.

The book is aimed at all readers who want to learn more about data rooms and their creation. It is also aimed at students across Europe, as many data spaces are being built right now and the topic could hardly be more relevant. Supporting funds have been provided by the European Commission and regulatory measures have been taken, for example the Data Act and the Data Governance Act. Therefore, the time is perfect to take a closer look at data spaces.

Link to the book

#30ISSTunning #NewWork #InternetTechnology #DataSpaces #SoftwareArchitecture

Right on time with the beginning of the Internet era in the early nineties of the last century, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft founded its "Institute for Software and Systems Engineering", Fraunhofer ISST for short, in 1992. Since then - until today - the institute has been dealing with Internet technologies and their best possible use. At all times, the institute has helped shape the current development of the Internet:

• From Web 1.0, in which many consumers absorbed the content of a few content providers,
• to Web 2.0, with an enormous increase in user-generated content, and
• to Web 3.0, which focuses on issues such as the democratization of the Web and data control for users.

Now, on the Institute's 30th birthday, technological change is being joined by completely new work concepts for scientists. "New Work" for Fraunhofer ISST in 2022 means moving into a state-of-the-art new building at the Dortmund harbor with flexible workrooms that can be adapted to the current needs of employees at any time if they want to work on-site at the institute rather than remotely. This makes the working environment as flexible as the technologies that the institute will continue to advance in the future.

If you would like to help shape this future, you can find all current job postings here.

#DataSovereignty #DataEconomy  #Fair

What can a fair data economy for Germany and Europe look like? Under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Fraunhofer ICT Group held an event on this question in mid-March 2022 with numerous experts.

The term "fair" is deliberately meant in a double sense: FAIR is an acronym in the field of research data and stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. These principles are guidelines on how to deal with research data. 

Independent of this technical term, "fair" is of course also a synonym for "just" or "balanced". This aspect is also important in relation to the data economy, because it will only function well if it follows the principles of a social data market economy. It must therefore balance the different interests of the actors in the data economy and bring them into equilibrium.

In this episode of his vlog, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto explains how this can succeed. In it, he also explains how the two interpretations of the term FAIR were brought together during the event. 

Who would like to learn more:

To the individual presentations from the event "Leitbild einer fairen Datenökonomie für Deutschland und Europa

More information on the FAIR Dataspaces project

#DataSharing #DataSpaces #InternationalDataSpaces #DataSovereignty #OpenSource #Certification #Specification #DataSpacesBusinessAlliance #IDSA #GaiaX #BDVA #Fiware

As a non-profit organisation, the International Data Spaces Association has set itself the goal of creating a standard for data sovereignty in data spaces. But what do I as a company gain from getting involved in the International Data Spaces Association?

Prof. Dr. Boris Otto describes the "magic triangle" of the International Data Spaces Association IDSA in his latest vlog:

1. The specification: The description of the software architecture for sovereign data spaces (reference architecture model RAM and technical specifications for individual components).

2. The open source community: Everyone is invited to participate in the further development of IDS components (GitHub repository). An example of such a project is the Eclipse Dataspace Connector.

3. The certification: Since anyone can contribute to IDS components, there must also be testing and certification of solutions. This is done through a certification and compliance testing process (Testbed on GitHub).

Based on these building blocks, software providers can enrich their offerings with data sovereignty components and certify them accordingly - an attractive competitive advantage. Users can introduce their requirements as components into the architecture (design option). As a founding member of the IDSA, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft sees it as its mission to bring this triangle to life. It therefore supports the networking of initiatives of the same direction, e.g. by founding the Data Spaces Business Alliance from IDSA, Gaia-X AISBL, Big Data Value Association and Fiware.

#dataspaces #strategy #anniversary #datastrategy #DataEcosystems #CatenaX #Mobi-lityDataSpace #30ISSTunning

2022 will be a special year for Fraunhofer ISST: The institute will be 30 years old. Just in time for the anniversary, the institute's strategy has also been revised and adapted to the current research questions. Thus, we will consistently continue on the path towards the implementation of successful data ecosystems, which we started in the past years, because the point has now been reached where data spaces as a possibility for the sovereign and controlled sharing of data no longer only arouse interest, but also go into concrete implementation: This is demonstrated by the European and German data strategies, but also by initiatives such as Catena-X or the Mobility Data Space. An exciting year, which Prof. Dr. Boris Otto presents in this issue of his vlog at the end of the year.

#DataInfrastructure #InternationalDataSpaces #DataSharing #GaiaX #DataMarketEconomy #DataEcosystems #WeKnowHow

The term "social data market economy" transfers the principle of the social market economy to a fair data economy. It describes the German and European way to design a data economy in which the interests of the individual (i.e., the individual data provider) are balanced with the interests of the community in the use of this data. Characteristics of this approach are

• a symbiotic coexistence between market and state,
• the exercise of services of general interest by the state by providing the infrastructure (Gaia-X, International Data Spaces), and
• implementation according to social principles into a fair data market economy.

Prof. Dr. Boris Otto explains details of this central data strategy approach of the German Federal Government and the European Commission in the current vlog.

#MobilityDataSpace #InternationalDataSpaces #DataSovereignty #DataSharing #IDS #GaiaX #WeKnowHow

Today, travelers are forced to put together their trip piece by piece with the help of a multitude of apps and smart services from the individual providers of mobility services (public transport, rail, airlines, hotel chains, etc.).

The Mobility Data Space aims to change this. It offers customers an end-to-end service for their journey and at the same time gives data providers sovereign control over their own data. Prof. Dr. Boris Otto explains how this works in the current vlog.

#Team #InstituteCulture #MotleyCrew #DataSovereignty #InnovationsFromData #ThisISSTunning

Anyone who wants to develop innovations needs a heterogeneous team. At Fraunhofer ISST, in addition to computer scientists and engineers, medical professionals and sociologists work together to develop solutions for a self-determined approach to data - in an open and creative working atmosphere and diverse teams with flat hierarchies. You want to become a part of us? Here are our current job offers: 

• https://www.isst.fraunhofer.de/en/jobs

#DataSovereignty #DataSharing #DataStrategy #WeKnowHow

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto explains in our vlog #Data_RSR episode 11 why the Dataspace Connector is an important entry for companies in Gaia-X and International Data Spaces. Therefore, the following three ingredients are needed above all: trust in data sharing, sovereignty over data and interoperability of data. The Dataspace Connector serves all these aspects. Furthermore, it is available as free open source software via Github.

Visit the website of the Dataspace Connector https://s.fhg.de/js10

Visit our account on Github https://s.fhg.de/gjh

#DataSovereignty #DataSharing #Datenstrategie #WeKnowHow

The year is still young, so it's worth taking a look at everything that will happen around #InnovationsFromData this year.

Against the backdrop of the EU data strategy, data rooms in particular will gain momentum. Stakeholders, companies and politicians, have recognized the importance of data rooms for innovative business models and also for services. In some industries, we are already seeing data spaces being created:

• on mobility
• to the Automotive Alliance
• to healthcare

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto explains in our vlog #Data_RSR episode 10 how we at Fraunhofer ISST contributed to the electronic patient record and how well digital technologies are suited for project work in challenging times.

#InternationalDataSpaces #DataSovereignty #DataSharing #IDS #GaiaX #Datenstrategie #WeKnowHow #InnovationsFromData

The GAIA-X initiative has set itself the goal of achieving cloud and data sovereignty for Europe, based on the GAIA-X Association - a non-profit organization under Belgian law.

Three main goals are currently being promoted within this organization:

• the GAIA-X architecture
• the Federated Services
• the open source community

In our Vlog #Data_RSR episode 9, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto explains how important it is for companies to become involved in the GAIA-X Association now and to become involved in the architecture and the open source community, and why.

#InternationalDataSpaces #DataSovereignty #DataSharing #IDS #GaiaX #Data Strategy #WeKnowHow

Why everyone has to bring something to the party if they want to use Data Spaces is explained by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, in the current issue of Data ReSearcheRs Vlog 8:

• How do you actually build Data Spaces?
• To what extent can data spaces be classified into basic architectural models?
• What are success factors for Data Spaces?
• Which incentive systems are needed and how is the financing?

These questions are answered by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, in the current Data ReSearcheRs Vlog.

#Cloud #Datenstrategie #Innovationen #Ökosysteme #IDS #GAIA-X #DataSharing #Skalierung #Automatisierung #Standardisierung #OpenSource #DevOps #NoLogin # Interoperabilität #Portabilität

Cloud computing is not a new topic, but it is currently gaining momentum: Where companies develop innovations more and more collaboratively in networks or ecosystems with partners, they need IT platforms "in their midst" to exchange data. Naturally, they want to retain sovereignty over data usage.

• What business reasons speak in favor of cloud solutions?
• And what technical challenges need to be taken into account to avoid dependence on a cloud provider
• What role do open source developments, DevOps, GAIA-X or the International Data Spaces initiative play in this context?

These questions are answered by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, in the current Data ReSearcheRs Vlog on the topic of cloud strategies.

#GAIA-X #Data sovereignty #InternationalDataSpaces #IDS #DataSovereignty #DataSharing

On 4 June 2020, a total of twenty-two founding members officially started building the European data infrastructure "GAIA-X". The aim is to enable European companies to leverage and use their existing data treasure.

• But what must the infrastructure offer in terms of data sharing on the one hand and the protection of business secrets on the other?
• And how can interested companies participate in the data infrastructure?
• What role does the GAIA-X Foundation play in this?

These three questions are answered by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Otto, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, in the latest Data ReSearcheRs Vlog.

#DataEconomy #DataSovereignty #DataQuality

Today’s Data Researchers vlog is about fundamental data economy topics:

• What is the definition of data and how is this different from information?
• How is data quality measured and what is the value of data?
• What parameters are important for data quality?

Prof. Boris Otto, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, answers these questions. He uses the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s DUNS number as an example. Boris Otto shows why data quality and data value are closely related, and why it is important to research the functional relationship between these two dimensions.

#GAIA-X #DataSovereignty #InternationalDataSpaces

GAIA-X creates a networked data infrastructure for citizens and companies in Germany, Europe, and the world.

• But what is GAIA-X?
• Why do we need it?
• And what does GAIA-X have to do with the International Data Spaces initiative?

Prof. Boris Otto, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST, answers these three questions in the current Data Researchers vlog.

#Data_RSR #DataValue #DataEconomy #Ecosystems

One of the intensively discussed terms of digitization: "ecosystems".

• What are ecosystems?
• What is the concept?
• Just another newfangled catchword, or is there really something behind it?
• What is the difference between ecosystems and "classic" company networks?

Prof. Boris Otto answers these questions in today’s vlog #3:
Innovations are increasingly being realized in economic ecosystems, in which various members such as companies, research organizations, intermediaries (such as electronic marketplaces), government agencies, customers, and competitors band together to jointly attain innovative value propositions.

#Data_RSR #DataValue #DataEconomy

The digital twin as a key prerequisite for the success of industry 4.0.

• What is a digital twin?
• How does it work?
• What does it consist of?
• What makes it so important for industry 4.0 and
• why is it a key prerequisite?

Prof. Boris Otto examines these and many other questions in Data Researchers vlog #2:
As a product of a conceptual nature in its creation that is based on data, information, and data models, it is not an entirely new concept but nevertheless one that is steadily gaining importance. It ensures/guarantees interoperability between various players as a basis, among other things for semantic functions. Thus the digital twin is not only important for production, where it models the entire life cycle of a product with various data, and for the success of industry 4.0, but is increasingly spreading to other fields. These range from logistics to healthcare to our private lives.

The digital twin is therefore a topic of great relevance for industry and for our society. After all, more data about us, production chains, or other processes are collected every day, and these data require secure administration. This is where Fraunhofer ISST with its researchers comes in.

#Data_RSR #DataValue #DataEconomy

What is the value of data? How can the value of data be quantified and measured?

Those are key questions for companies in the age of digitization. The same three parameters can be used to determine the value of data as for other asset:

• What costs were incurred?
• What is the utility value of the data?
• Who is the buyer and what are they willing to pay?

Concepts for the management of tangible assets therefore have to be transferred to intangible assets – in our case, data obtained through analysis. The DEMAND research project – Data Economics and MANagement of Data driven business – is developing concrete solutions for practical architectures, process models, and tools. The Working Group 6 of the industry 4.0 platform is currently examining this topic as well. Prof. Boris Otto, executive director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST

Projects and further information that may interest you:

• https://www.demand-projekt.de/