The Gideon research project investigates how the secure and automated exchange of data between companies can give rise to new forms of data-driven value creation. The focus is on developing a digital data ecosystem that supports companies in sharing data across organizational boundaries and systematically tapping into its economic and societal potential. The goal is to make the added value of shared data transparent while simultaneously creating the conditions for trustworthy and sustainable data exchange.
AI-Supported Data Exchange and Data Governance
To this end, an AI-supported system is being developed that links the data sources of different organizations and identifies and evaluates the value-creation potential arising from the combination of internal and external data. The use of AI is intended to identify suitable data combinations, suggest potential applications, and support data-driven decision-making processes. The system is being developed iteratively in collaboration with the project partners and continuously refined based on real-world requirements.
Another focus of the project is the development of appropriate data governance structures. These create the organizational, technical, and legal framework for secure, transparent, and trustworthy data exchange. In doing so, the project addresses issues related to data sovereignty, data protection, access rights, responsibilities, and interoperability between different IT systems. The goal is to enable participating organizations to manage their data in a controlled manner while simultaneously promoting collaboration within a data ecosystem.
Real-World Testing
The developed concepts are validated using two application domains as examples: water infrastructure and the circular economy in the furniture industry. In both areas, business, technical, and legal requirements are analyzed and integrated into the platform’s development. Prototype implementation involves integrating the developed solutions into the application partners’ existing systems and business processes. This allows the developed methods to be tested under real-world conditions, their practical suitability to be evaluated, and insights to be gained regarding their transferability to other industries and application areas.
The project is being carried out by an interdisciplinary consortium of research institutions and companies. Project coordination is handled by Fraunhofer IESE. The consortium also includes Berliner Wasserbetriebe AöR, Integrated Worlds GmbH, KWB Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin gGmbH, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie gGmbH. The network is complemented by associated partners from the water sector. Through close collaboration, scientific findings are directly translated into practical solutions for cross-organizational data exchange.
With its interdisciplinary approach, Gideon contributes to the development of trustworthy data ecosystems and demonstrates how AI, data governance, and cross-organizational data sharing can be combined to foster innovation, use resources more efficiently, and enable sustainable digital value creation.
Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE
