The Challenge
Despite the rise of open data, substantial amounts of high-value data remain inaccessible due to commercial, privacy, and security considerations. Data providers often hesitate to share without assurances of proper use. For instance, industry collects around $10 to 15 million in environmental impact data annually in the Pilbara that could offer insights into biodiversity and habitat conditions and provide more accurate regional assessments. Yet access to these data is limited by legal and security constraints. Similarly, Australia’s biosecurity system, with a net present value of $314 billion, faces $25 billion in annual losses that could be reduced through better data exchange, which would enable better-informed decision-making.
The current reliance on bespoke data sharing agreements and data exchange processes to access these data are costly and slow, restricting its availability for research and limiting the potential for timely data-driven decision-making. As data analysis becomes more complex, data needs diversify, and as the number of participants increases, reliance on bespoke and individualised data sharing agreements is proving unsustainable.
The Approach
Dataspaces are being used in Europe to address these challenges, and the ARDC is investigating their application for Australia.
A dataspace is digital infrastructure that enables participants to find, access and use data based on a governance framework. The vision for dataspaces is to create trusted, secure ecosystems for data exchange where all participants follow agreed rules. Data providers set the usage policies for their data, and control over that data can persist even after it is shared.
The ARDC is well positioned to coordinate and deliver national capabilities that enhance the sharing and connectivity of underutilised data assets. By leveraging our expertise in data-focused services, such as the Nectar Research Cloud, Research Data Australia, Research Vocabularies Australia and our identifier services, we can support streamlined data access for researchers, especially in the environmental and biosecurity sectors through our partnerships within the Planet Research Data Commons. Further, with our membership in the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), we are continuing to develop our understanding of global advances in dataspace implementation and adapting them to the Australian context.
Use cases
We will develop 2 pilot projects, where we will test the dataspaces concept with existing projects in our Planet Research Data Commons and demonstrate the value of dataspaces in an Australian context. We will test the dataspace solutions being implemented in Europe and elsewhere to see if they can be adapted in Australia to connect restricted-access data across government, industry and research organisations.
A national conversation
As part of the pilot projects, we will continue to share our deepening understanding of effective dataspace implementation at the organisational, legal, semantic and technical levels. We will engage with national partners to shape a roadmap for scaling dataspaces in Australia.
Ensuring the International Data Spaces (IDS) model works in the Australian context, this program is establishing the infrastructure and capability to underpin dataspaces within Australia, providing infrastructure, expertise and a standardised framework to build trust among participants in the data supply chain.
Collaboration
Throughout the development of dataspace pilots, we will work closely with our Planet Research Data Commons partners to identify how the dataspaces paradigm provides practical solutions for the most pressing challenges they encounter in sharing restricted-access data at scale.
We will also engage with a broader range of industry, government and research organisations to co-develop a roadmap for the broader adoption of dataspaces across Australia.
Primary beneficiaries of this activity include:
- research groups requiring restricted-access data at scale
- government decision-support teams
- industry.
The International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) is our current partner.
Target Outcomes
Through 2 pilot projects, this activity will test the dataspaces concept within existing Planet Research Data Commons projects. Resulting infrastructure and experience will be integrated into ARDC services and capabilities, contributing to a national framework for managing restricted-access data.
The dataspaces initiative supports the National Digital Research Infrastructure (NDRI) Strategy by offering seamless data sharing across organisations and storage infrastructures while safeguarding data sovereignty. Beyond technical infrastructure, it also provides the organisational and legal foundation needed to build trust within the data supply chain and ensure compliance with the FAIR and CARE principles.
By enabling industries to retain control over shared data and ensuring transparency in data handling, dataspaces have the power to unlock substantial volumes of industry data currently inaccessible for research and policy-making. This increases trust, promotes data sharing, drives innovation and supports evidence-based decision-making.
Adopting dataspaces in Australia will enhance the interoperability of Australia’s data ecosystems globally, aligning with international initiatives like the European Open Science Cloud and the European Union’s Data Strategy.
Key Resource
We are continuing to grow our understanding of global advances in dataspace implementation to adapt them to the Australian context. Read our primer to dataspaces in an Australian context and a growing compendium of FAQs.