Open Data Product Specification acknowledged as key cross-sectoral Data Spaces initiative
Open Data Product Specification has been acknowledged to be one of the key Data spaces initiatives contributing to enabling EU level data economy.
Data spaces are diverse, thriving ecosystems which consist of a lot of different items, assets, products and actors that interact and work together. Shared understanding of the data products and models around it are necessary. Thus Open Data Product Specification as being vendor-neutral, open-source machine-readable data product metadata model fits in perfectly.
The digital transformation strategy of the European Union has, among others, a particular priority: the creation of common data platforms based on a unified architecture and an established standard. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the OPEN DEI project focused on “Platforms and Pilots” to support the implementation of next generation digital platforms.
One of the Task force groups in the OPEN DEI project focused on Data Sharing Spaces theme in which experts teamed up to define for the first time cross-sectoral and across initiatives the fundamental design principles to build data spaces.
The design and implementation of a data space comprises a number of building blocks, which fall under two types: the technical building blocks and the governance building blocks.
The technical building blocks enable the implementation of the architecture of a data space. They include network protocols, middleware components, (standardized) APIs, and more, facilitating the sharing of data between different parties in a secure and trustworthy fashion. Open Data Product Specification is one of the key enablers.
Data Sharing Building Block Catalog
One of the task force’s main aims was to create a building block catalog, which is intended to introduce the reader to data sharing and its benefits, while providing a starting point for the initiative that will give continuity to the OPEN DEI project: the Data Support Center.
The result act as useful input both for projects that are aware of data spaces and for those who want to make a first approach.
The Building Block catalog were published at the OPEN DEI main even in Oct 27th. The Building Block catalog will soon also be available in Github under International Data Spaces Association.
Open Data Product Specification for data sharing
In the Data Sharing Space group’s report Open Data Product Specification (ODPS) has been listed under Data Spaces ecosystems. It has been identified to provide significant contribution to the data sharing framework design to define the data economy in Europe. The ODPS can be used in sharing, but also enables seamless expansion to data monetization as product and service sales without changing the base. In short, ODPS works in all levels of data value creation from company internal to public data market places.
About Open Data Product Specification
The Open Data Product Specification is a vendor-neutral, open-source machine-readable data product metadata model. It defines the objects and attributes as well as the structure of digital data products. In the “Open Data Product” focus is on the latter words and the prefix ‘open’ refers to the openness of the standard. Any kind of connotations to open data (a different thing) are not intentional, intended, or desirable. The work is based on existing standards (schema.org), best practices and emerging concepts like Data Mesh. The reasoning is that we reuse and proudly copy instead of reinventing the wheel.
The specification has been designed with four major aspects of the data product in mind: 1) technical (infrastructure & access), 2) business (pricing & plans), 3) legal (licensing & IPR), and 4) ethical (privacy & mydata). The four aspects are described in 5 elements, which contain attributes and other elements.
Open Data Product Specification version 1.0 was published in Feb 2022. Currently the new features are addd to the next version which is 1.1. The version 1.0 is only patched if needed.
Open Data Product Initiative as umbrella
Until June 2022 ODPS development has been organized under Data Product Business which is part of Mindmote Oy. To enable growth and lower barrier to contribute, Open Data Product Initiative was created.
Open Data Product Initiative (“ODPI”) provides an open source community, within which industry participants may easily contribute to building vendor-neutral, portable and open specifications for providing technical metadata for Data Products and Services — such as the “Open Data Product Specification” — and supporting tooling for validating the integrity of the specifications or instantiations of it.
The ODPI is as such not intended to be a destination for community/consumer-focused tooling outside of the specification itself. At the moment development and maintenance will be managed in an open source, Technical Steering Committee (“TSC”), open to any participant. In addition companies can purchase membership which gives them a seat at the Strategy Group.
Join the development, join the initiative!
