European data strategy

The European data strategy aims to make the EU a leader in a data-driven society. Creating a single market for data will allow it to flow freely within the EU and across sectors for the benefit of businesses, researchers and public administrations.

Access to data and the ability to use it are essential for innovation and growth. Data-driven innovation can bring major and concrete benefits, such as

personalised medicine
improved mobility
better policymaking
upgrading public services

Data governance

The European Commission proposes a new European way of data governance to facilitate data sharing across sectors and Member States. It will create wealth for society, provide control to citizens and trust to companies.

European Data Governance Act

A single market for data

The EU is creating a single market for data where

data can flow within the EU and across sectors, for the benefit of all
European rules, in particular privacy and data protection, as well as competition law, are fully respected
the rules for access and use of data are fair, practical and clear

The EU will become an attractive, secure and dynamic data economy by

setting clear and fair rules on access and re-use of data
investing in next generation tools and infrastructures to store and process data
joining forces in European cloud capacity
pooling European data in key sectors, with common and interoperable data spaces
giving users rights, tools and skills to stay in full control of their data

European Data Act

With the European Data Act, which entered into force in January 2024, the Commission aims to make more data available for use via new rules on who can use and access data and for which purposes across all economic sectors in the EU. The new rules are expected to create €270 billion of additional GDP for EU Member States by 2028 by addressing the legal, economic and technical issues that lead to data being underused.

Consumers and businesses generate data by using products and services. With the Data Act, they will benefit from:

cheaper prices for aftermarket services and reparation of their connected objects
new opportunities to use services relying on access to this data
better access to data collected or produced by a device
new safeguards against unlawful transfers of data
reduced costs when moving data to a different cloud provider

By having more information, consumers and users such as farmers, airlines or construction companies will be in a position to take better decisions such as buying higher quality or more sustainable products and services, thereby contributing for example to the Green Deal objectives.

Examples of industrial and commercial data use

Jet engines filled with thousands of sensors collect and transmit data back to ensure efficient operation.
Wind farms use industrial data to reduce visual impact and optimise wind power.
Real-time traffic avoidance navigation can save up to 730 million hours. This represents up to €20 billion in labour costs.
Real-time notification of delayed trains can save 27 million working hours. This amounts to €740 million in labour costs.
Better allocation of resources to fight malaria could save up to €5 billion in healthcare costs globally.