A European strategy for data

This Data Strategy, together with and the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, is the first pillar of the new digital strategy of the Commission.

The European strategy for data aims at creating a single market for data that will ensure Europe’s global competitiveness and data sovereignty. Making more data available for use in the economy and society and keeping companies and individuals in control of the data they generate is another priority to be pursued by Common European data spaces.

Among the ways data driven applications will benefit citizens and businesses, the strategy mentions health care, safer and cleaner transport systems, new products and services, reduced costs of public services, improved sustainability and energy efficiency.

To ensure the EU’s leadership in the global data economy, this European strategy for data intends to:

• Adopt legislative measures on data governance, access and reuse, for example for business-to-government data sharing for the public interest;
• Make data more widely available by opening up high-value publicly held datasets across the EU and allowing their reuse for free;
• Invest €2 billion in a European High Impact Project to develop data processing infrastructures, data sharing tools, architectures and governance mechanisms for thriving data sharing and to federate energy-efficient and trustworthy cloud infrastructures and related services;
• Enable access to secure, fair and competitive cloud services by facilitating the set-up of a procurement marketplace for data processing services and creating clarity about the applicable regulatory framework on cloud framework of rules on cloud;
• Empower users to stay in control of their data and investing in capacity building for small and medium-sized enterprises and digital skills;
• Foster the roll out of common European data spaces in crucial sectors such as industrial manufacturing, green deal, mobility or health.