Every data space need procedures and authorities to define common rules. Such rules include assigning responsibilities, but also defining technical aspects such as vocabularies to use, formats and common standards.
For the development of the Forest Data Space (FDS), the governance structure is developed in three phases:
Phase 1
Stakeholder Input
(2020 – 2021)
In this phase, wetransform coordinated stakeholder input from more than 50 different organisations, such as state forests, national institutes, forest owners and some software companies. This work was done as part of the FutureForest (Phase I) project, partially funded by Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) and Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr (BMDV). The goal was to understand the constrains and possible impact that the FDS could achieve, given the right organisational and technical structures are in place.
Specifically, we researched the following points:
- Identify use cases and value unit(s)
- Identify data gaps for these use cases
- Identify hard sharing constraints and risks of sharing
- Define desired data experience
- Define optimal impact of data and use cases
An unexpected outcome of this process was that there is a lot of uncertainty in this community about how to make a data ecosystem work. Most organisations we talked with had very little experience in defining rules for data re-use, and many were sceptical overall.
Phase 2
Rapid Iteration and Validation
(2022 – 2025)
In this phase, wetransform, as the coordinator of the FDS, creates a minimum viable governance and then iteratively tests it with different stakeholder groups. Hence, it is possible to quickly change things that are not working. This rapid development started from conventions, optimised for value generation in the phase 1 use cases. It also takes into account aspects such as:
- Defining a joint data model and data quality criteria: What is the content? What is it intended for to be used?
- Set a simple convention to get started: Who may use data for what and where?
- Define categories of protected data on attribute level and define rules about protected data on attribute level, e.g. no-share
- Define limited user categories
- Entry fees: Bring your data and/or bring financial resources
This phase is expected to last until Q2/2025. At the end of the phase, we expect to have thoroughly defined data usage policies as well as the organisational structures needed. We foresee the following structures to be established:
- A data intermediary: A neutral, not-for-profit organisation such as an association, managing the governance and the community of the FDS.
- A data space operator and developer: A for-profit organisation that operates central components and supports the technical development of the FDS.
- A community board: A group of representatives of stakeholder groups that makes decisions such as changing structures, governance or data usage policies.
- A data interoperability group: A group of technical and forestry experts that define standards and vocabularies for data exchange.
Phase 3
Community Management
(2025+)
Towards Q1/2025, wetransform aims to identify a suitable organisation to take over the role of the official data intermediary. Depending on the capabilities of this organisation, wetransform will hand over aspects of organisational control quickly or in a staged process. The bodies described above will then be fully established.