Gaia-X Hub Austria

Gaia-X Hub Austria Vision

What

The European Gaia-X initiative stipulates a model that is fair and open to everyone, and on the basis of which organizations of all types can exchange data and establish data-based business models.

Why

The ever-increasing pace of digitalization in all areas of life means that the prosperity of the current and future generations will be affected significantly by success (or lack thereof) in the area of data-based business models. For this reason, organizations of all types are developing new and innovative digital business models. Organizations employing the Gaia-X ruleset will be able to trust that they can maintain control over their data, reduce the dependency on individual cloud providers, and significantly decrease their individual costs and technical implementation risks relating to the establishment of data exchange systems.

For whom

Austria’s innovative businesses that are successful today thanks to their outstanding technological capabilities can maintain their existing market positions as well as achieve new value creation by way of data-based business models. Public administration organizations in various areas including security, education, transport, health, and citizen services can develop effective and modern services using innovative models for data exchange and processing. The purpose of Gaia-X is to significantly accelerate these undertakings and support them comprehensively.

Bild mit Link zum Video: Die GAIA-X Association und warum Unternehmen dort mitwirken sollten

This is why it pays off for a company to become part of Gaia-X

Why companies should participate in Gaia-X – briefly explained in a video by the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST:

Gaia-X Hub Austria MISSION

The Gaia-X Hub Austria will ensure that no time is wasted for Austria as a business location during this essential phase of the digital transformation – rather, that politics, science and education, industry, administration, and civil society organizations participate in the European Gaia-X initiative actively and at the cutting edge wherever possible.

To support the Gaia-X vision effectively, visibly, and sustainably, the Gaia-X Hub Austria will pursue the following four strategic areas of activity for all involved or interested

The Gaia-X Hub Austria will establish itself as the first point of contact for Gaia-X in Austria. It will ensure all work results, guidelines, documentation, and open-source codes are made accessible to all interested stakeholders in Austria in a timely, uncomplicated, and comprehensible fashion.

The Gaia-X Hub Austria will support Austrian organizations in their adoption of data-based business models and enable Austrian businesses of all sizes to initiate or participate in innovative implementation projects. This will allow them to obtain experience, acquire know-how, and increase their competitiveness on the European market.

The Gaia-X Hub Austria will help organizations to network efficiently and establish independent work groups and concrete alliances for implementation. The Hub will facilitate access to national and international funding programmes and showcase successful Austrian implementation projects in other EU countries. The Gaia-X Hub Austria will also ensure the greatest possible synergy with relevant Austrian initiatives and programmes.

The Gaia-X Hub Austria will establish a strong network with other national Hubs – especially with those in neighbouring countries and Eastern European states. The purpose of this powerful concerted voice is to ensure that topics and questions particularly relevant to Austria are heard at the European level, that Austrian projects are appropriately presented, and that the Austrian influence on decisions pertaining to the data economy at the EU level is increased.

Gaia-X Hub Austria OBJECTIVES

Based on the four strategic areas of action defined in the Mission Statement of the Gaia-X Hub Austria, the Hub aims to achieve the following 21 operative objectives by the end of 2023

  1. The Hub is established and recognized as the primary point of contact for all topics and questions relating to the European Gaia-X initiative.
  2. The Hub is set up professionally in terms of its organization as well as all relevant processes and activities, and is subject to transparent quality control and governance.
  3. The Hub operates on a stable financial basis.
  4. The Hub has established close and amicable working relations with the staff members responsible for digitalization agendas at various Austrian ministries.
  5. The Hub supports the smooth functioning and well-prepared work of the Advisory Boards.
  6. The Hub has established a concept for its work after 2023.
  7. The Hub processes queries related to Gaia-X topics quickly and competently.
  8. The Hub maintains a comprehensive website, various newsletters, and other tools facilitating information exchange and communication (e.g. chat channels, online document archives) for a wide circle of recipients.
  9. The Hub has compiled appropriate and comprehensible information formats (documents, presentations, short videos) on all relevant contents and topics of the Gaia-X initiative and made them available to a wide audience.
  10. The Hub has assembled a collection of examples describing use cases (implementation schemes), business cases (business models), and Gaia-X-compatible cooperations in concrete and comprehensible terms.
  11. The Hub has become an information platform for potential cooperations and funding programmes.
  12. The Hub has established a trustful relationship with the European Gaia-X Association and facilitates intensive information exchange.
  13. The Hub consolidates important requirements and topics of regional (Austrian) initiatives and positions them within the European discourse.
  14. The Hub provides strategic consultancy for ministries and political processes upon request (e.g. in connection with necessary framework conditions for digital ecosystems or funding programmes).
  15. The Hub has established an excellent network with other Hubs and exchanges information regularly. In particular, there is a high degree of cooperation and mutual trust with Hubs from neighbouring and Eastern European states.
  16. The Hub has ensured the establishment of a well-networked ecosystem within Austria (associations, businesses, organizations, project groups) whose members regularly exchange information and experiences and undertake cooperations.
  17. The Hub has organized an international congress (e.g. a Gaia-X Summit) in Austria.
  18. The Hub has conducted four stakeholder analyses, published their results, and formulated corresponding deductions for further activities.
  19. The Hub has conducted at least ten information meetings/roadshows within Austria.
  20. The Hub has conducted at least four consultancy workshops (deep dive) within Austria.
  21. The Hub has actively contributed to companies/organizations founding at least ten active Gaia-X Federations or actively working on at least ten Gaia-X-compatible projects in various cooperation models.
  22. The Hub accompanies at least one domain in its establishment and connection to its European counterpart.
  23. The Hub has developed and can justify differentiated recommendations for Austrian companies of different sizes for their engagement around Gaia-X.
  24. At least one Gaia-X Digital Clearing House has been established in Austria.

Gaia-X Hub Austria NON-OBJECTIVES

Non-objectives of the Gaia-X Hub Austria for its first performance period (until the end of 2023) are:

  1. The Hub will not develop any business cases of its own. It is conceived strictly as a non-profit organization.
  2. The Hub will not participate in Federations or operate Federation Services.
  3. The Hub will not offer any form of commercial consultancy services (e.g. for the development of company-internal data strategies).
  4. The Hub will not disburse any subsidies or funding.
  5. The Hub will not perform any certifications.