Sovereign and trustworthy data sharing is critical for addressing local and regional challenges that communities face, as well as foster economic development in European communities. The technical, business, and governance enablers emerging around Common European Data Spaces provide support to federated data sharing.

Various axes of evolution for federating data in local communities exist: from sharing data within the local administration to extending data space participation to more and different types of stakeholders, and expanding use cases across various domains.

Stakeholders’ willingness to federate may vary, depending on how a data space is designed and implemented. The role play, co-organised by JRC and DSSC and carried out in March 2026, highlighted that stakeholders are more likely to federate if the value proposition is clearly defined and resonates with their objectives. Also, private sector orchestration was
considered effective in the case of clearly bounded initiatives.

Advancing federated data sharing requires further efforts to translate abstract principles, such as sovereignty, into practice, address complex incentives and barriers for data cooperation, understand effective drivers for data sharing capabilities, and foster sufficient
balance between market demand and supply.