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Businesses should be aware of the next big step in the data economy: sharing and exchanging data with different actors in the EU will become more secure and trade secrets better protected. This will open up new opportunities for companies to develop services and do data-driven business.
Data sharing and collaboration is already happening in many sectors, be it in agriculture, making port traffic more efficient, controlling the production line in an industrial plant or using data to streamline traffic.
Large amounts of data are becoming available and usable by businesses and other actors. This change is being driven by the EU’s rigorous package of legislation, the Data Act and the Data Governance Act. It will ensure easier access to diverse data sources in Europe. Businesses will be able to access data from sources such as the public sector and smart device manufacturers.
What does this change mean for businesses in practice and how can they make the most of it? Sitra’s new online course for businesses on EU data regulation (currently available in Finnish) provides answers. The course is free of charge and open to all.
The course will help businesses understand the changes brought about by the new data regulation, making it easier for them to adhere to the new rules, boost their competitiveness and find new business and innovation opportunities.
“The Data Act and the Data Governance Act create opportunities for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Companies able to be among the first to develop and offer new data-driven services can reap significant business benefits,” says Tarmo Toikkanen, Senior Lead in Sitra’s Competitiveness through Data project.
The course developed at Sitra is available in the digital learning environment eOppiva.
New rules clarify how companies use and share data
The EU has long been developing rules for the use of business data. Business data is data produced, collected or purchased by businesses. A company’s data may not always be useful to the company itself, but it can benefit from sharing data with another company under agreed rules.
The course will explore the new EU data law and data management regulation through a series of practical examples, business cases and interviews.
The new regulation will make data sharing between companies and between companies and customers more transparent. It aims to create solutions that could increase trust in data sharing between different actors.
“Changes are on the horizon for all businesses by autumn 2025 at the latest, when manufacturers of large network-connected devices will have to start sharing more data. Companies that have already practised and developed data-sharing service models will have an advantage,” says Toikkanen.
The course is aimed in particular at developers and other professionals interested in the use of data in companies and public organisations.
Making the most of data from smart devices
The course will explore the use of data from a variety of perspectives. A variety of connected smart devices, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices, are proliferating in people’s everyday lives as well as in industrial environments. When used, these IoT devices collect data that can be useful to device users and developers of new services.
To make it easier to use the data generated by smart devices, new rules will require large smart device manufacturers to share the data generated by the use of their devices with their customers and other companies of their choice.
In the future, farmers, for example, will be able to use data more widely and efficiently. They will be able to use the data generated by their own tractors and to hire agricultural analytics companies to help them interpret the data.
The reforms are expected to heighten data sharing between businesses, while protecting trade secrets. This in turn could create a market for new data-driven services and neutral data brokerage services, which will be explored in the course.
In addition to IoT data, the course will also explore how to make public sector data more accessible to businesses, and what to do when a company receives a request for access to data from outside the EU.
Sitra launched its first course on EU data regulation in 2023. The course covered different digital services and their specificities with examples, new rules for digital services and restrictions for large technology companies.
Read more about examples of data sharing
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Sitra has a wealth of material on data regulation to help businesses
The EU is determined to build the foundations and rules for a fairer data-driven society and economy of the future. The development of a data-driven economy will be strengthened not only by regulation but also by substantial funding.
But the new regulatory framework is seen as complex and difficult to navigate. In a Sitra survey, SMEs from four EU countries identified regulatory complexity as the single biggest obstacle to the development of data economy businesses.
Sitra has a history of helping businesses better understand the complexity of data regulation. We support the growth of data economy skills so companies can identify new business and innovation opportunities in a changing environment.
We provide information and insight on evolving regulation in an accessible format. Our first course on EU data regulation, Basics of EU data economy regulation – fair rules for online platforms, was completed in 2023.
The courses have been developed as part of Sitra’s Roadmap for a Fair Data Economy project, which helps stakeholders identify opportunities in the future data-driven economy.
