i4Trust
i4Trust is a collaborative initiative that brought together FIWARE Foundation, iSHARE Foundation, and FundingBox to revolutionise data sharing. It serves as a facilitator for innovation to address real-world challenges through data-sharing solutions:
- FIWARE Foundation: Open-source Data Space Connectors and Marketplace services.
- iSHARE Foundation: Trust Framework and data space governance expertise.
- FundingBox: Cascade funding, accelerators, and business implementation. Together, they pioneer effective data exchange, publication, and trading.
Together, the i4Trust program pioneers collaboration for effective data exchange, publication, and trading.
The puzzle
Challenge and Context
Achieving trustworthy data sharing across sectors requires aligning stakeholders around common technology standards and governance frameworks. Scaling this into a universal infrastructure for seamless cross-domain transactions—akin to Web interoperability—presents a formidable challenge in harmonising diverse industry interests while preserving unique data space identities.
Solution
i4Trust addressed these challenges by combining FIWARE’s and iSHARE’s building blocks into a unified foundation for creating data spaces. The program enabled effective and trustful data transactions among participants, supporting three core pillars: data exchange, data sovereignty and trust, and data value creation. Participants benefitted from open-source components, a proven governance framework, and expert mentorship — lowering the barrier to building interoperable, standards-compliant data spaces at scale.
How it works
i4Trust introduces a fresh approach to accelerating data spaces, combined with mentoring, certifications, and funding to boost the creation of Data Spaces. It supports ecosystems of collaborating SMEs and Digital Innovation Hubs, where innovative services are centred around data value chains. i4Trust data spaces are built on the integration of FIWARE and iSHARE technical components, following the Data Spaces Business Alliance Technical Convergence recommendations. Organisations deployed a FIWARE Data Space Connector to connect to the data space, which bundles the necessary modules for authentication, access control, data exchange, and transaction logging. The ecosystem is structured around three pillars:
- Data Exchange — Participants share digital twin data through the NGSI API, supported by common data models from the Smart Data Models initiative, ensuring full interoperability between providers and consumers.
- Data Sovereignty and Trust — Identity management, authentication, and authorisation are handled through a combination of FIWARE’s Keyrock component and the iSHARE Trust Framework, ensuring that participants can verify each other’s identities and enforce agreed data access policies.
- Data Value Creation — The FIWARE Business API Ecosystem enables providers to publish data offerings, manage smart contracts, and monetise data assets, while discovery and marketplace services connect providers with consumers.
Via this collaboration, 30 Bottom-up Experiments (BuEs) are supported involving at least 150 SMEs and 30 Digital Innovation Hubs to build trust with data users and suppliers
Added Value Through the iSHARE Trust Framework
The iSHARE Trust Framework formed the governance backbone of i4Trust data spaces. It established a standardised scheme for identification, authentication, and authorisation — covering both machine-to-machine and human-to-machine interactions. Through signed JSON Web Tokens and Public Key Infrastructure, the framework guarantees the integrity of data transactions and ensures that only verified, trusted participants can access and exchange data. The iSHARE Satellite acts as the trust authority, maintaining the network of participants and enabling any party to verify the trustworthiness of others. This robust foundation allows i4Trust data spaces to operate with full transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance.
Contributors
