Brussels, 03 February 2020
On behalf of the European Commission, the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) is conducting the study 'Big Data and B2B platforms: the next big opportunity for Europe'. The study started in December 2018 to analyse how to accelerate the growth of the data-based economy and to support the development of B2B platforms in Europe. It focuses on 2 sectors: (i) cooperative, connected and automated mobility and (ii) high-impact healthcare.
The study will be completed by December 2020 and will deliver 2 pilots, 'Fair and equal data sharing for cooperative, connected and automated mobility' and 'Piloting a high-quality, diabetes-related data repository by using the latest technologies and big data breakthroughs'. It will be conducted in consultation with stakeholders such as policy-makers, business and industry representatives, SMEs and large companies, as well as academia and researchers.
Selected stakeholders will take part in 8 workshops (4 for each pilot) to contribute to designing and testing the main features of 2 pilots. The study will deliver the following final reports, to be completed by the Fall of 2020:
- Two reports on the design, organisation, rollout, outcomes and impact of the two pilots.
- Two reports on potential market deficiencies and regulatory barriers, including a common industry-led position, one for each sector (healthcare and automotive).
- A report containing recommendations to the EU and national policymakers and an action plan for the creation of shared EU-wide in-vehicle data platforms.
- A report containing recommendations to the EU and national policymakers and an action plan to accelerate the creation of unified EU-wide diabetes related data platform
- A report informing policy actions in the area of skills for the automotive sector.
- A market analysis on the potential of European B2B platforms and unified European diabetes-related data sets for healthcare.
A final conference will take place during the Fall of 2020 (date to be confirmed) in Brussels, to inform a broader stakeholders’ audience about the study findings.
Pilot on fair and equal data sharing for cooperative, connected and automated mobility
The pilot aims to prove the concept of a possible solution that can help improve fair and undistorted competition, particularly, on equal access for all market participants (in particular SMEs) to in-vehicle data, using a shared data platform. The second workshop on this pilot took place on 17 September 2019 and brought 28 experts around the table. The workshop covered the Design phase of the pilot, and discussed:
- The Shared Server Solution architecture needs and the pilot design, focusing on piloting feasible information flows, managing systems’ complexity and data diversity.
- The proposed services and data to be coupled and investigated concerning low latency and heavy processing needs.
- Privacy issues and experimentation with Microsoft Azure components to be used during the implementation phase.
During the Design phase, the pilot development was focused on identifying and addressing the main issues arising from the pilot implementation of the Shared Server architecture, touching upon data transmission, semantic interoperability and standardisation. The second workshop concluded the Design phase and opened the Implementation phase, where the pilot data architecture will be implemented via an Agile approach in two cycles. During the Implementation phase the study will consolidate the insights gathered to arrive to the final setting of the Pilot and its features. The progress on the above will be presented and discussed at the third workshop on automotive, to take place on 14 May 2020.
Pilot on a high-quality, diabetes-related data repository by using the latest technologies and big data breakthroughs
The pilot aims to extract and exploit data from type2 diabetes (T2D) datasets to develop a comprehensive biomarker package that quantifies the relevant processes of the metabolic flexibility system and determines an individual’s metabolic health trajectory and predisposition to certain conditions. The extracted T2D data will be coupled with real world evidence (RWE) data from multiple sources outside the typical clinical research setting. The ultimate aim of the pilot is to test and further develop a federated database infrastructure responding to FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) able to connect data from different research sources. The added value of such an infrastructure will be shown by specific use cases. The second workshop of the pilot took place on 17 September 2019 with the participation of 20 experts. The workshop covered:
- the current status of the infrastructure of the data sharing
- an interactive session on the use cases and needed ontologies & vocabularies. The ontologies for data logics (ONS and ONE), diabetes diagnostics, diabetes treatment (etc.) were shown.
During the Design phase, the pilot development focused on setting-up structural characteristics for the infrastructure, such as the way to connect different data sources and the application of FAIR principles. In addition, two use cases were selected for the pilot’s implementation and aspects such as ontologies and interoperability issues were considered for their development. The pilot will now be up to the execution of the Implementation phase, based on the findings of the Design phase and on the selected use cases. During this phase, the use cases will be implemented, the ontologies further developed and the essential data for the use cases, FAIRified. The progress of this work will be presented and discussed during the third workshop on healthcare, to be held on 13 May 2020.
More information
The third round of workshops takes place in Brussels on 13 May 2020 for high-impact healthcare and on 14 May 2020 for cooperative, connected and automated mobility, at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) at Place du Congrès 1, 1000 Brussels.
To apply for the next workshop please visit: https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-events/third-workshop-big-data-and-b2b-platforms-the-next-big-opportunity-for-europe/
For more information and material on the study please visit: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/digital-transformation/big-data-digital-platforms/b2b_en
© European Union, 2019 The information and views set out in this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this document. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on the European Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The study is implemented by the consortium:
