# Data Spaces in Manufacturing and Supply Chains: A Review and Insights from European Initiatives
## 3 Results
This progression underscores a deepening institutional and industrial commitment to data-driven collaboration, interoperability, and sovereignty--cornerstones of modern manufacturing and supply chain digitalization. Building on the previous analysis of the evolution of European data space initiatives, Figure 8 offers a deeper look into these projects' structural and strategic characteristics, focusing on their foundational building blocks, architectural frameworks, funding models, business case patterns, and geographical distribution. In the top section of the figure, the foundational pillars of data space design are highlighted through three thematic blocks: data sovereignty, data interoperability, and data value creation. The emphasis on data exchange under the interoperability block  
Figure 8: Overview of key characteristics of European data spaces initiatives (source by [[https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar](https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar)]([https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar](https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar)) [accessed 11 May 2025]). Figure 7: Maturity levels of data spaces and associated use cases documented by the IDSA (source by [[https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar](https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar)]([https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar](https://www.dataspaces-radar.org/radar)) [accessed 11 May 2025]): (**a**) distribution of data spaces across five maturity levels; (**b**) distribution of documented use cases within the same maturity framework. (72.9%) underscores the central role of ensuring seamless data flow between stakeholders. However, comparatively lower shares for provenance and traceability (15.3%) and data models and formats (11.9%) suggest that while exchange mechanisms are being prioritized, standardization and lineage tracking may still be in earlier phases of implementation. Under data sovereignty, identity management (25.4%) and access and usage policy control (16.9%) emerge as key enablers, aligned with the broader goal of ensuring secure and rule-based access to data. Trust, however, remains the least addressed aspect (8.5%), indicating a potential gap in ecosystem-wide mechanisms for establishing and verifying trust--possibly reflecting the early maturity of some ecosystems or the reliance on pre-existing business relationships. The data value creation segment shows the leading role of data services and offerings (25.4%) and publication and discovery (20.3%) in driving economic utility from data. Nonetheless, marketplace and usage accounting (6.8%) remain underrepresented, suggesting that monetization models and governance for transactional data economies are still emerging while technical sharing is advancing. In terms of reference architecture, the dominance of IDSA (64.4%) confirms its status as the de facto standard for many European data space projects. Alternative frameworks like Gaia-X (8.5%) and FIWARE (3.4%) are also in use but to a lesser extent, reinforcing the strong institutional backing for IDS as the structural blueprint of data sovereignty. On the technical implementation side, the most widely adopted data space connector, the Eclipse Data-space Connector (EDC), holds significant traction (20%), especially among projects aligning with open-source and federated architecture principles. Source of funding data highlight the critical role of EU funding (30.5%) in enabling the development of these data spaces, followed by minor contributions from governmental and private funding sources. This reliance on public investment emphasizes the strategic role of data spaces in Europe's digital agenda and industrial policy. From a business perspective, joint innovation (60%) dominates as the leading business case pattern, indicating the strong emphasis on collaboration over direct monetization. Other patterns such as shared marketplace and greater community engagement (each 20%) suggest that data spaces foster shared innovation ecosystems and public-private partnerships beyond value creation.