DIH AGRIFOOD Data Space

Data space, as defined by the Data Space Support Centre (DSSC), is an infrastructure that enable data transactions between different data ecosystem parties based on a governance framework, and it should generic enough to support multiple different Use Cases.

DIH AGRIFOOD Data Space (DADS) is a federally organised data-sharing platform where data from the agri-food sector is shared on the basis of pre-known policies and rules defined by the data management model.

The data management model is based on ethical principles and guidelines provided by the European Commission. These principles guarantee the data sovereignty of Data Owners and transparency of data collection and sharing among all stakeholders in the Data space.

The essence of DADS is not only technology, but an overall concept or set of approaches that enable faster digital transformation of the agri-food sector, with a special focus on environmental, economic and social sustainability, while following the principles described above. The DADS follows the future-proof approach, where Data spaces should be ubiquitous, both geographically and in terms of linking different domains and data silos. Primarily, however, the DADS is focused on attracting all actors from agriculture and food supply chains, predominantly from Slovenia, but also from wider region.

The DADS is technically provided and managed by the ITC – Innovation technology Cluster Murska Sobota (ITC), while it is governed (according to the Governance Model presented in the DADS Rulebook) under the umbrella of the Digital Innovation Hub AGRIFOOD (DIH AGRIFOOD) represented as a non-formal network of stakeholders in the field of the agri-food sector.

DADS Strategic Orientation

 

The DADS represents a technological/administrative data-sharing platform for the agri-food sector that defines:

  • Agri-food domain terminology (how to name what and what it means);
  • Translations of the attributes in the agri-food domain (in human-readable form);
  • The semantics of the agri-food domain (how to structure data in the same way — machine-readable);
  • Rules, definitions and operationalisation of how data is collected, stored, processed, shared and used.

The DADS allows any interested Data Owner, Data Provider or any stakeholder in Slovenia and wider region, to provide/share data or use data through the DADS. This includes the possibility that the stakeholder implements its own API, which will allow access to the specific datasets. The functional and non-functional requirements, as well as the data structures of these APIs, are defined in DADS Rulebook.

The DADS allows all stakeholders to access data through the APIs of the Data Owners and/or Data Providers, accompanied by the following functionalities:

  • Overview and selection of various data sources;
  • Control of data rights by Data Owners;
  • Unified semantic data model;
  • The possibility to monetise sharing of data.

The DADS thus represents one of the foundations for the development of the data economy in the Slovenian (and wider regional) agri-food sector so that based on the data shared in the Data space, completely new services will be created, that will provide added value for all actors in the food supply chain.

Description of the DADS

Business Part

At the time of establishment (the year 2023), the business model of a DADS is not fully defined yet. Some of the reasons for this are:

  • European Data space is a relatively new concept in the field of data economy;
  • Organisational and technical standards for data spaces are still in development;
  • Time is needed for wide acceptance of the principles of data spaces among data owners, data providers, data users, data consumers, and the general public.

DADS, as an organisation, is a nonprofit entrepreneurship. However, it will create business value. Such business value does not necessarily need to be monetary but can manifest in a better product or service quality for all stakeholders and the general public.

Organisational and technical infrastructure support data monetization, so data owners and providers, if they choose so, can enforce different monetization models (e.g., in Dataset Terms of Use).

Technical part

The technical infrastructure for DADS is hosted and deployed on Azure cloud service provider. The Founding members of DADS are responsible for developing and maintaining the technical infrastructure.

Their responsibility also includes that services in DADS comply with modern standards regarding:

  • Data security
  • Backup of data
  • Disaster recovery
  • Compliance of servcies with national and EU legislative acts
  • Technical documentation

Technical documentation for DADS services is public and accessible on our website. Technical building blocks of DADS are described under section Technical Infrastructure.