Data is increasingly becoming a strategic asset that must be shared and reused across organisational boundaries to unlock innovation, sustainability and new business opportunities. At the same time, organisations face growing challenges related to governance, trust, regulatory compliance and maintaining control over how their data is accessed and used.
Data spaces provide a governance framework and interoperable digital infrastructure that enables organisations to exchange data while retaining data sovereignty. By combining common governance principles, semantic interoperability and federated technical services, data spaces allow organisations to collaborate securely without relinquishing ownership or control of their data. As European regulations such as the Data Act, Data Governance Act and the AI Act reshape the digital landscape, data spaces are becoming a key enabler for trusted and compliant data sharing across sectors.
SINTEF is at the forefront of research on data spaces, digital ecosystems and semantic interoperability. As an active member of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) and the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), the Smart Data Research Group develops technologies, architectures and governance mechanisms that enable organisations to establish secure, interoperable and scalable data ecosystems.
Our research goes beyond enabling data exchange. We develop methods for Compliance by Design, integrating governance policies, contractual obligations and regulatory requirements directly into data and AI pipelines. By combining semantic technologies, knowledge graphs and policy-aware software architectures, we help organisations automate compliance, improve transparency and build trustworthy digital ecosystems.
The Smart Data Research Group coordinates and contributes to several European research and innovation projects that advance the state of the art in data spaces across domains such as manufacturing, energy, agriculture, the circular economy, water management and the blue economy. Through these projects, we develop the next generation of trusted data infrastructures that support secure collaboration, responsible AI and data-driven innovation.