Technologies

Trustworthy data exchange with Gaia-X

In today’s data-driven world, secure and efficient data exchange is a crucial competitive advantage. Companies must be able to integrate and share data from various sources without losing control over their own data. This is where Gaia-X comes in: a flagship project of the European Union that creates a secure, trustworthy, and sovereign data infrastructure for Europe.

In our Research Area Data & Service Ecosystems at CONTACT, we’re working to make the vision of Gaia-X a reality. A key part of this is seamlessly connecting data management systems to Gaia-X-based data spaces.

What is Gaia-X, and why is it important?

In an increasingly globalized and data-driven world, it’s crucial for companies to maintain control over their data while still benefiting from data exchange. Gaia-X provides the framework for this: its core concept for a federated data infrastructure allows platform providers, cloud services, and data holders to communicate and exchange data securely and in compliance with legal requirements.

Gaia-X doesn’t aim to replace existing data infrastructures; instead, it connects them to create an open, interoperable ecosystem. To understand the significance of this shift, it helps to look at the differences between data platforms and data ecosystems:

Data platforms typically operate on a centralized model. Data is copied and uploaded to the platform, allowing other parties to download and use it. The problem with this is that copies of the data exist everywhere, and all participants must trust the platform operator to manage the data securely and correctly.

In contrast to a centralized data platform, in a data and service ecosystem, the operator’s role shifts to that of a federator. This federator offers “federation services” that enable participants to find each other, establish trust, and exchange data directly without a central entity managing or controlling the data.

The core pillars of Gaia-X form the foundation for a trustworthy and future-proof data ecosystem:

Trust & transparency: Gaia-X establishes clear rules for data governance, security, and data protection. The system is designed from the ground up to be compliant with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), ensuring user privacy and data security.
Interoperability: By adhering to open standards and interfaces, data and services move freely between compliant providers.
Portability: Businesses can easily move their data and applications between different Gaia-X-compliant providers without vendor lock-in. This fosters competition and gives companies the flexibility to choose the solutions best suited for their operational needs.
Sovereignty: Data sovereignty remains with the owner at all times. Businesses retain control over the access and use of their data, in strict compliance with European laws and values.

Gaia-X is thus an important step towards Europe’s digital sovereignty, offering companies the opportunity to drive innovation, develop new business models, and simultaneously retain control over their valuable data.

Requirements for participating in the Gaia-X ecosystem

Participating in the Gaia-X ecosystem opens up numerous opportunities for companies but also requires fulfilling certain demands.

Compliance with the Gaia-X Trust Framework: This includes adherence to rules and guidelines for data governance, data security, data protection, and interoperability.
Operating your own infrastructure: Typically, operating your own infrastructure is necessary to ensure full data sovereignty. This might include running an object storage (like S3), a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) solution, or other necessary services.
Implementation of security measures: Companies must implement appropriate security measures to protect their data and systems from unauthorized access, loss, or damage.
Adherence to standards: Gaia-X relies on open standards and interfaces for interoperability between different systems and platforms.

Conclusion

Gaia-X is Europe’s strategic response to the challenges of the digital era. By creating a trustworthy, interoperable, and sovereign data ecosystem, Gaia-X enables companies and organizations not only to securely store their data but also to share it in a controlled manner and use it intelligently.

This not only fosters innovation and new business models across industries but also ensures a fair competitive landscape where even smaller players can benefit from the potential of data-driven value creation. Users and companies regain control over their data, forming the basis for transparency and trust in the digital space.

Discover in our next blog article how we are laying the foundation for federated data exchange by connecting CONTACT Elements to Pontus-X.

Visual programming with no-code solutions for the digital twin

In today’s data-driven world, digital twins are essential for optimizing processes and boosting efficiency. However, many businesses struggle to get started, especially when specialized resources are unavailable. This is where Power Apps comes into play: a purely visual development tool for creating digital twin applications that requires no in-depth programming knowledge.

Power Apps: A simple and effective programming foundation

Power Apps is built on the JavaScript library Blockly, which provides a visual programming interface. Users can implement programming concepts like variables, loops, and logical expressions using graphical blocks – no coding required. This intuitive approach enables them to create digital twins with just a few clicks.

CONTACT Elements: The platform for digital twins

Power Apps is part of the CONTACT Elements platform, which seamlessly connects all data and processes from the initial idea to the recycling of a product along the digital thread and accelerates digital transformation. Users can create, manage, and optimize digital twins of products, systems, or processes – customized and without complex backend programming.

Easy integration of simulations, data analytics, and AI

With Power Apps, automated interfaces to existing systems and data sources can be implemented more quickly, streamlining data flow to the digital twin. Python scripts enhance the platform with advanced algorithms for simulations or machine learning (ML). Libraries like TensorFlow or Pandas allow for precise predictions of machine and system states. Based on this, simulations offer a targeted analysis of various scenarios and their effects on systems.

Results such as KPIs or time series data can be integrated into business processes in the Elements platform – perfect for industries like manufacturing, healthcare, or energy that rely on accurate forecasts.

Flexibly adapt applications

The intuitive user interface of Power Apps makes it possible to develop customized applications and adapt them to specific requirements with just a few clicks. Data from documents, sensors, or simulations can be processed, calculated, and visualized directly on the digital twin’s dashboard.

No more IT barriers or complex approval processes

Power Apps requires no complex IT tools or approval processes. Users can create, customize, and share applications directly in the CONTACT Elements platform, allowing them to react quickly to new requirements.

Conclusion

Visual programming with innovative solutions like Power Apps in CONTACT Elements makes it easier to create and automate applications for digital twins. Without the need for extensive IT infrastructure, digital twins become accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Key benefits at a glance:

Rapid development: Iterative adjustments and real-time user feedback.
Optimization through simulation: Incorporate insights from analyses directly into models.
Integration into business processes: Seamlessly embed results into workflows or service cases.

The simple and flexible creation of digital twins opens up new opportunities for companies to increase efficiency and drive innovation.

Digital authenticity: how to spot AI-generated content

In today’s digital age, we often question whether we can trust images, videos, or texts. Tracing the source of information is becoming more and more difficult. Generative AI accelerates the creation of content at an incredible pace. Images and audio files that once required a skilled artist can now be generated by AI models in a matter of seconds. Models like OpenAI’s Sora can even produce high-quality videos!

This technology offers both opportunities and risks. On the one hand, it speeds up creative processes, but on the other hand, it can be misused for malicious purposes, such as phishing attacks or creating deceptively real deepfake videos. So how can we ensure that the content shared online is genuine?

Digital watermarks: invisible protection for content

Digital watermarks are one solution that helps verify the origin of images, videos, or audio files. These patterns are invisible to the human eye but can be detected by algorithms even after minor changes, like compressing or cropping an image, and are difficult to remove. They are primarily used to protect copyright.

However, applying watermarks to text is way more difficult because text has less redundancy than pixels in images. A related method is to insert small but visible errors into the original content. Google Maps, for instance, uses this method with fictional streets – if these streets appear in a copy, it signals copyright infringement.

Digital signatures: security through cryptography

Digital signatures are based on asymmetric cryptography. This means that the content is signed with a private key that only the creator possesses. Others can verify the authenticity of the content using a public key. Even the smallest alteration to the content invalidates the signature, making it nearly impossible to forge. Digital signatures already ensure transparency in online communication, for example through the HTTPS protocol for secure browsing.

In a world where all digital content would be protected by signatures, the origin and authenticity of any piece of media could be easily verified. For example, you could confirm who took a photo, when, and where. An initiative pushing this forward is the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), which is developing technical standards to apply digital signatures to media and document its origin. Unlike watermarks, signatures are not permanently embedded into the content itself and can be removed without altering the material. In an ideal scenario, everyone would use digital signatures – then, missing signatures would raise doubts about the trustworthiness of the content.

GenAI detectors: AI vs. AI

GenAI detectors provide another way to recognize generated content. AI models are algorithms that leave behind certain patterns, such as specific wording or sentence structures. Other AI models can detect these. Tools like GPTZero can already identify with high accuracy whether a text originates from a generative AI model like ChatGPT or Gemini. While these detectors are not perfect yet, they provide an initial indication.

What does this mean for users?

Of all the options, digital signatures offer the strongest protection because they work across all types of content and are based on cryptographic methods. It will be interesting to see if projects like C2PA can establish trusted standards. Still, different measures may be needed depending on the purpose of ensuring the trustworthiness of digital content.
In addition to technological solutions, critical thinking remains one of the best tools for navigating the information age. The amount of available information is constantly growing; therefore, it is important to critically question, verify, and be aware of the capabilities of generative AI models.

For a more comprehensive article, check out the CONTACT Research Blog.