Data Space for Industry

This grant is aimed at supporting the further development and expansion of the data space for manufacturing. The main goal is to develop legal, technical and business solutions that will allow sufficient data to be aggregated and provide authorized AI developers with direct or indirect access to it for training generative AI models for the manufacturing sector.

This initiative aims to strengthen the role of the data space for manufacturing as a key tool for increasing productivity and collaboration within the European Union.

This initiative will support projects focused on manufacturing use cases to unlock the potential of advanced artificial intelligence models, particularly in areas such as predictive maintenance, process automation, supply chain management, product design and development, sustainable manufacturing, and productivity improvement in industrial environments – procurement, logistics, resource planning, production facilities, etc.

The goal of these projects is to collect large volumes of high-quality data from real industrial environments, with proper labeling where appropriate. Such data will be used to train or fine-tune generative AI models for the manufacturing sector. Data collection should be relevant for developing AI applications that can bring significant benefits to key EU industries (automotive, chemical, aviation, energy-intensive, etc.).

The project proposal must clearly define target sectors, stakeholders and preliminary data sharing arrangements.

Data collection projects must develop technical and business solutions that will allow authorized AI developers to obtain direct or indirect access to data and use large datasets while maintaining full control by data owners.

Each project must contain clearly defined use cases to ensure alignment with real needs and challenges. It is desirable that AI developers interested in using this data are identified already at the proposal submission stage.

The project must also provide technical and legal solutions that will ensure the availability of generated datasets to AI Factories users, allowing these structures to use data for further AI application development. Participation of AI Factories in the project will be considered an advantage.

Consortia are encouraged to use data intermediaries defined in Chapter III of the Data Governance Act or other appropriate mechanisms to ensure secure data access and processing.

The initiative should work closely with the Data Spaces Support Centre to ensure consistency and interoperability with the broader data spaces ecosystem created under the Digital Europe programme. Coordination with AI Factories is also necessary to ensure effective use of generated datasets in combination with existing ones, promoting collaborative approaches to developing advanced AI models.

It is important to consider financial sustainability from the outset – this is a key factor for ensuring the long-term viability and effectiveness of European common data spaces. A robust financial model enables developers to guarantee the availability of resources to adapt to changes in the technological environment and user needs, ensuring the resilience and usefulness of the data space in the long term.

A consortium consisting of at least 3 independent applicant-beneficiaries (unrelated legal entities) from 3 different countries.

• Solutions that ensure collection of large volumes of high-quality data from real industrial environments, covering various manufacturing systems and sectors.
  
• Solutions that provide access to these large datasets for training generative AI models focused on real industry needs and challenges, preferably with involvement of trusted third parties that provide data storage and computing on behalf of authorized AI developers.
  
• Agreements with specific AI Factories defining available datasets and conditions for their use in training AI models.
  
• Interoperability and governance frameworks for industrial data spaces, including national industrial spaces, to ensure the possibility of data aggregation for AI training at the EU level.
  
  

Through the official European Commission resource – EU Funding & Tenders Portal