Glossary · IIoT, data and AI
Data sovereignty
German: Datensouveränität
In data sharing, data sovereignty is the ability of a person or organization to determine how its data is used, by whom, for what purpose and under which conditions, including after the data has been shared. Industrial data spaces such as those based on the International Data Spaces (IDS) concepts, Gaia-X or Catena-X aim to enforce such usage policies technically.
- IIoT
In one sentence
Data sovereignty is the ability of a data owner to control who uses its data, for what purpose and under which conditions.
Example
A machine builder may use a customer's operating data to improve a maintenance model, but a usage policy prohibits passing the data to third parties.
How it applies
- Engineering: Data sovereignty is implemented through contracts, access control, usage policies and connectors that check policies before data is exchanged.
- Operation: Plant operators often hesitate to share machine data because it can reveal production volumes, recipes or quality problems. Clear rules on purpose and retention make sharing possible.
- Documentation: Describe which data a connected product collects, where it goes and how the customer can control or stop the transfer. This belongs in the product documentation, not only in contracts.
Data sovereignty vs. data residency
Data residency concerns the physical or legal location where data is stored, such as a data center in the EU. Data sovereignty concerns control over use. Storing data in a particular country does not by itself give the data owner control over how it is used.