Building public-private data spaces for urban sustainability
“Today, cities often need to request data individually from multiple public and private actors, making data collection slow, costly and difficult to standardize.”
This challenge is at the core of the IPPCP pilot, part of the European Data Spaces for Smart Communities, which brings together Zaragoza (Spain) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) to explore how public-private data spaces can support environmental monitoring, emissions tracking and climate action.
At the centre of the pilot is a shared issue: “much of the required data already exists, but it is scattered across different organisations and not easily accessible or reusable.” This fragmentation makes it difficult to build “a consistent and reliable picture of environmental performance.” The pilot responds by developing data spaces that enable structured, secure and efficient data sharing with the aim to “organise data flows in a more structured way, reduce manual effort, and connect information and services across the public and private sectors.”
Based on the experience of this pilot project, a data space is defined as “a digital ecosystem that integrates data from different public and private organisations through common standards, governance models, and technological mechanisms that guarantee control, security, interoperability, and efficient use of data.” In practice, this allows data on energy, emissions and air quality to be accessed in a more structured and transparent way, rather than exchanged manually.
For them, the starting point is not technical. “Understanding who is involved, what data exists, and what the goals are creates a solid foundation before moving to technical solutions or platforms.” Governance is equally central, defining “clear rules on who can access data, under what conditions, and for what purpose,” and ensuring trust between participants.
The pilot is still evolving. “The pilot is still ongoing, so the data space is not yet at a fully functioning stage,” and “this requires a fast and focused approach.” After establishing use cases and governance models, the work is now moving into implementation, including data integration and the development of services.
Before the pilot, data sharing was “based on fragmented and partly manual processes,” requiring “significant coordination, manual validation and data harmonisation, with limited interoperability and reuse across sectors.” The pilot is now working towards more interoperable systems, while building on existing infrastructures such as Zaragoza’s data space.
Early progress is already visible. “Stakeholders are becoming more engaged and aware of the value of structured data sharing,” and there is “improved understanding of available data sources and their quality.” These changes are strengthening collaboration and supporting better planning.
Looking ahead, the pilot aims to support “a more systematic and sustainable way of managing data,” enabling “more coordinated collaboration between stakeholders and a more consistent use of data across systems and organisations.” This should lead to “higher data quality, better comparability and more reliable insights.”
Scaling depends on clear conditions. “A pilot becomes ready to scale when its core elements are stable and tested in practice,” supported by “functioning data sharing processes and agreed governance rules between participants.” It is also essential that “stakeholders see value and are willing to continue using and expanding the solution.”
“Building a data space is as much a technical challenge as it is an organisational one” the pilot notes. It requires coordination, realistic use cases, and continuous learning. At the same time, “existing data and systems should be reused as much as possible,” and success depends on “respecting data sovereignty, as this builds trust and supports the quality of shared data.”
Curious to learn more about the Pilot? Read here
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