Digital technologies are transforming the economy and society, affecting all sectors of activity and the daily lives of all European citizens and businesses. Data is at the centre of this transformation and more is to come. Given the increasing volume of non-personal industrial data and public data in Europe, combined with technological change in how the data is stored and processed, being a potential source of growth and innovation, a regulatory framework and an ecosystem must be guaranteed in accordance with European values, fundamental rights and rules creating trust and benefits for all Europeans.<\/p>\n
Starting from an overview on the data economy in the EU, this policy brief aims to take stock of the European strategy for data, published last February by the Commission as a part of its digital package to create a \u00absingle market for data that will boost Europe\u2019s global competitiveness and data sovereignty\u00bb. A specific focus is placed on the challenge of ensuring a European leadership on industrial data, recently reaffirmed by Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s SOTEU, also with the proposal of building a European cloud based on the Gaia-X initiative as part of NextGenerationEU. The brief also makes a reference to the future data initiatives, that will include a legislative framework on data governance (expected by the end of this year) and a legislative proposal for a Data Act (scheduled for 2021).<\/p>\n