FIWARE Foundation, iSHARE and FundingBox announce the start of 17 experiments that have been selected from 239 SMEs and 48 Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) from 26 countries have participated in i4Trust’s second open call. They will address the development of innovative services, based on the i4Trust framework. These services will become reference models of how Data Spaces help to develop a sustainable Data Economy, based on fair and trusted data sharing. Each of the experiments will receive up to €120,000 in equity-free funding to design and execute their use case as well as a full provision of services during a 9-month mentoring programme.

The 17 European experiments from twelve countries were selected as a part of the i4Trust second open call, which was launched in May 2022. Formed by one DIH and at least three SMEs, the chosen consortia will be fully supported by i4Trust’s key partners guiding them through the implementation, testing, piloting, and scaling of their services. The experiments, covering real use cases in Agrifood, Buildings, Cities, Energy, Environment, Logistics, Manufacturing, Mobility, Ports, and Tourism, will demonstrate how existing processes can be further improved and new innovative services created through the secure and effective sharing of data between smart applications.  

The Decentralised Trust Anchor and Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework of i4Trust aligns with first results of the Technology Convergence discussions under the umbrella of the Data Spaces Business Alliance (DSBA) launched by the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), FIWARE Foundation, Gaia-X and the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA). Therefore, selected experiments will be at the forefront of the Data Spaces movement in the EU.

What’s in store for the experiments

During the course of the mentoring program, the involved companies and DIHs will partake in a Cross Value Chain and Fundraising Bootcamps to explore potential synergies between the experiments and further work on their data sharing strategies. Between them, FIWARE, iSHARE and FundingBox – the three organisations leading the i4Trust program – have accumulated entrepreneurial experience while holding extensive technical expertise. Moreover, these organisations have an expansive network of renowned mentors, founders, investors, technologists, standards bodies and innovators who will add outstanding value to the experiments.  

“We’re thrilled to welcome these new experiments joining the i4Trust programme. They will have the opportunity to test a new release of the i4Trust framework that materialises the Technology Convergence vision designed under the umbrella of the Data Spaces Business Alliance (DSBA). We look forward to showcasing the positive results – and the lessons learnt – that they will bring to the table, as the very first reference use cases that has been developed using the new release of the i4Trust building blocks”, commented Juanjo Hierro, i4Trust Project Coordinator, “As a result of joining the nine-month tailored mentoring program, SMEs, DIHs and technology partners involved in the experiments will become front runners in the Data Spaces revolution. They will show how organisations can work more efficiently and cost-effectively, collaborate with other parties to create innovative services for existing or new customers, and expand into new markets focused on data value chains. We expect the experiments to create a positive and long-lasting impact around the development of Data Spaces in Europe,” he added.

“With successfully closing  the first  round of mentoring program and starting of the next round we are defining the future of Data Sovereign Europe with introduction of real Data Spaces created using i4Trust building blocks. These Data Spaces enable new and innovative business services by means of sharing of data that these organisations never thought of sharing,” commented Rajiv Rajani, i4Trust Mentoring Programme Coordinator.

About the Project Grant Agreement

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant agreement No 951975.