2024 in Review

In 2024, Fraunhofer ISST continued to pursue its vision of a secure, sovereign and value-creating data economy with determination. Especially in light of ongoing digital transformation and the growing potential of artificial intelligence, it has become clear: innovation and growth are only possible through the trustworthy and fair use of key resources – above all, data.

The goal of our work remains the development of sustainable data infrastructures, future-ready data management and the creation of interconnected data ecosystems. To achieve this, we combine our technological and methodological expertise in six competence areas, rely on our Dataspace Technologies department as a strong research foundation, and work closely with partners in the business domains of Industrial Manufacturing, IT Service Providers, Healthcare, and Mobility & Smart Cities.

Selected highlights from 2024:

• As coordinator of the European Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) and active partner in initiatives such as Catena-X, Manufacturing-X and Sphin-X, we once again provided key impulses for the development of cross-sectoral data spaces in 2024. Through international R&D projects – including with partners such as Fujitsu and Huawei – we strengthened cross-border collaboration while affirming our commitment to European values in digital transformation.
• In our role as a connector, we brought together stakeholders from business, academia and politics – at the panel on cross-border data sharing during the German Federal Government’s Digital Summit, through our involvement in a Franco-German AI strategy, and at events such as the roundtable discussion with Federal President Steinmeier.
• Knowledge transfer remained a central concern in 2024: through podcasts, media contributions and events such as the Digital Week Dortmund we actively shared our expertise with both society and industry.

Our vision of a social data market economy continues to guide our work with a clear objective: to unlock innovation from data – securely, sovereignly, and in support of a sustainable digital future.

All details and further insights can be found in the 2024 Progress Report.