Data Spaces Symposium 2026
The 4th edition of the world's leading event on data spaces took place in Madrid on 10 and 11 February, with the special collaboration of Gaia-X Hub Spain, consolidating Spain's pioneering role in building the new data economy by investing heavily in data spaces as a driver of innovation and competitiveness.
Organised by the Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) under the slogan ‘Accelerate adoption. Increase impact.’, it highlighted how data spaces enable collaboration and competitiveness with a global impact.
The main themes in 2026 revolved around:
- Data spaces as value creators and enablers of economic union
- Data spaces as enablers of AI: providing reliable data for the AI of the future
- Relevance of standards and interoperability: promoting international harmonisation of data space technologies
- Presentation of best practices and real-world impact: highlighting successful adoptions and market-ready solutions
- The first European Data Spaces Awards ceremony
The Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) is a project funded by the European Commission as part of the Digital Europe Programme, aimed at the public sector and businesses wishing to create sovereign data spaces. The DSSC aims to contribute to the creation of common data spaces that collectively create a sovereign, interoperable and reliable data sharing environment to enable the reuse of data within and across sectors, fully respecting EU values and supporting the European economy and society.
This year's edition was the largest ever, bringing together more than 700 people in person, with TICE.PT represented by António Salvado. The presence of so many people and organisations at this event allowed TICE.PT to participate in person in several meetings that took place in parallel with the event, namely a meeting of Gaia-X Hub coordinators, a meeting of IDSA Hub and Competence Centre coordinators and a meeting of participants in the DSSC Strategic Stakeholders Forum.
