Laurent Lafaye, a French entrepreneur and co-CEO of Dawex, has a recognized track record in the field of the data economy and regularly speaks to decision-makers about the creation of data ecosystems and data spaces, and the challenges of data circulation, from data trading to developing data hubs and data marketplaces.
Dawex, which Lafaye co-founded in 2015 with Fabrice Tocco, aims to provide Data Exchange solutions so that businesses and governments can distribute or share data, with trust, for any business case, in compliance with data regulations. The company was named a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer in 2020, and spoke at the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in 2022 about creating trust in public-private data exchanges. Dawex is also the initiator of an international standardization program on Trusted Data Transaction. Laurent Lafaye recently spoke to The Innovator about Europe’s data economy and what the Continent can learn from China.
Q: Let’s start by talking about how Europe is strengthening the development of a data economy
LL: In Europe, there is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which was passed about ten years ago and defines under which conditions personal data can be circulated. Then about 5 years ago, a growing interest in Europe in industrial data led to the creation of data spaces. These were designed to support the development of data ecosystems in sectors crucial to European society and the economy such as energy, agriculture, mobility, health and education. Data spaces have been set up to define the framework and bring together key players in each sector, whether large corporations, SMEs or government agencies. Take the construction sector for example. It involves not only large organizations, but also many small companies, similar to cities and regions that issue tenders for roads and bridges renovations. In such cases, information needs to be exchanged and flow between government agencies and private companies. A single construction site project can generate tens of thousands of pages of documentation that need to be shared among various stakeholders. For something like rebuilding a bridge or a road, one needs to access the data about the original construction, which might be stored by a city hall or within regional administration. Bringing all this parties together is essential. This is just one example of how complex and critical it is to gather and exchange data with trust.
Q: What regulations apply to this area?
LL: The EU has introduced and adopted three major regulations on horizontal data governance that apply to all sectors. The first one is the Data Governance Act, which defines the role of a data intermediary – the entity responsible for orchestrating and federating participants within a data space. The second is the Data Act, which addresses many topics, notably how individuals and companies can access data. The third regulation is the AI Act, which includes provisions for accessing the data used to train algorithms in order to determine how automated decisions are made. While these regulations are horizontal in scope, Europe is also adopting sector-specific or vertical regulations. An example is the European Health Data Space, builds on the principles of the Data Governance Act on the access to and sharing of data, but also adds rules tailored to the healthcare sector. This dual approach, having both horizontal and vertical regulations, may seem complex, but as Europe pioneers this new approach and chooses to lay down the regulatory foundations early on and improve them over time. In fact, the Data Governance Act is already scheduled for review and potential improvement in 2025.
Q : How is Europe ensuring compliance?
LL: Europe has taken a clear stance: to apply the regulations through technology. That’s the driving force behind Gaia-X, a European initiative aimed at developing a common data infrastructure. Gaia-X provides de facto standards and labels needed to build interoperable data spaces, enabling participants to exchange information securely and with trust while retaining control over their data. Each week, Gaia-X members, participating on a voluntary basis, meet in working groups, to define trust frameworks. They tackle important questions such as: If I use a non-European Cloud provider, is my data still secure? Does that provider meet the necessary certification standards? Establishing the digital identities of the ecosystem partners is also key to ensure that all participants comply with agreed-upon data exchange regulations. What’s significant here is that it is technology developed in the EU that sets the rules and creates trust. This marks a shift: in the past,trust often defaulted to Big Tech as the de facto third party. Today, it is different as everything is decentralized. Data spaces create an environment where compliance to regulations can be verified. Technology can be used to establish precisely what is true and what is not. This is relatively new and means that European organizations and individuals can now take control, and no longer need to place de facto faith in technology providers to establish whether something is compliant or not.
Q: Can data ecosystems play a role in helping Europe achieve data sovereignty?
LL: In Europe, we are actively working to develop sustainable economic models that will support hese emerging data ecosystems and ensure that these trusted infrastructures can be financed and maintained over time. The good news is that we already have strong European players in place. We have European Cloud providers that can form the foundation of a trusted data infrastructure. Companies like Dawex are enabling the secure circulation of data, others are focused on data processing, while other European AI players are developing their own large language models. For every layer – Cloud, data and AI – European actors are present and ready to scale. What we need now is large European corporations to back them by choosing to do business with them .
Q:What is Dawex’s role in European data ecosystems?
LL: For the past ten years now, Dawex has been providing its data exchange technology to enable the orchestration of data spaces around the world, allowing data to be exchanged in a decentralized manner, whether between dozens to thousands of participants. Dawex technology is available on a white label basis to our clients across multiple industry sectors. For instance, Valeo, a global automotive supplier with over 140 factories worldwide, leverages Dawex solutions to consolidate data coming from diverse factories and suppliers. Given the difference in their facilities and periodicity, Valeo relies on our technology to accurately report on its water and energy consumption, as well as Co2 emissions. We recently announced that TF1 Group, a leading European media company, is leveraging Dawex Data Exchange solution to improve internal access to data and enhance service capabilities for its partners. The Group is therefore able to exchange data and services dedicated to its partners, such as activity reports, usage data and consumer trends, in a secure and automated way. Another example in the media sector is with AFP – Agence France Presse – with the creation of a European data space designed to fight fake news and help journalists respond more quickly and efficiently. Dawex is also supporting the aeronautics industry with the creation of a data space dedicated to secure data exchange across the entire supply chain. Data exchange, and the creation of trusted data spaces, is now an essential pillar of any organization’s data strategy, in many sectors, enabling both innovation and long-term competitiveness in the digital economy.
Q: Although GDPR legislation was criticized at first , other nations have followed Europe’s lead. Do you think the same will hold true for data spaces ?
LL: Other regions are already beginning to follow Europe’s lead in building data spaces. We are seeing initiatives take place in South Korea, Japan and in China. China’s approach is striking.. In November last year, China announced plans to establish over 100 trusted data spaces by 2028, a major step towards building a nationally integrated data market with secure international connections. That number is significant, as each of these data spaces could involve hundreds or thousands of companies and government agencies. By setting a 2028 deadline, China is positioning itself to assess the best available technologies, foster internal competition and scale rapidly. Additionally, China is taking innovative steps to attract SMEs and get them involved in data ecosystems by enabling data to be treated as a tangible asset on corporate balance sheets.
Q: Can you elaborate?
LL: China’s Data Accounting Treatment Provision, which came into effect in January 2024, introduces a significant shift as it allows businesses to capitalize data resources on their balance sheet, in addition to the more traditional way of expensing them. According to the regulation, data can be recognized as an asset under China’s Accounting Standards if it is lawfully owned or controlled by the company , if the related economic benefits are likely to belong to the company, and if the associated costs can be reliably measured. This is a particularly interesting approach because many efforts around the worl to bring SMEs into data ecosystems have fallen short. The key challenge is that SMEs must first digitize, and that requires clear incentives. By enabling them to value their data, this gives SMEs a way to enhance their company’s valuation, regardless of their sector.
Q: Should Europe also consider allowing data to become an asset on company balance sheets?
LL: I think Europe needs to urgently embrace this idea. If China’s approach becomes an international accounting standard it could position China as a global leader in this area. The U.S. is also likely to adopt a similar path. It would be a missed opportunity if Europe doesn’t at least evaluate this idea and begin pilot programs in several countries before considering broader adoption. In my view recognizing data as a tangible asset would help accelerate the development of both data privacy and data ecosystems. Once data has a tangible value there is a much stronger incentive to protect it and, particularly in the case of industrial data to exchange it in ways that can further enhance its value
We’re living through a transition. Companies are regaining control over their data and what they do with it. Data spaces are the link between data infrastructures and data usage. It’s also a question of choice. The solutions exist in Europe. Now it’s a question of making them known and encouraging their widespread adoption, to build a competitive European digital economy.
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