Data Economy

Data-Driven Business Models

The ZVEI believes that using industrial data sets creates enormous economic and social value. These models help make industrial processes in all areas, such as industrial production, energy, and mobility, more efficient, reliable, and ultimately, more resource-efficient.

The "Data Economy Opportunity Compass" assists companies in identifying, evaluating, and implementing the potential of digital business models in existing data sets. To identify new solutions, the Opportunity Compass contains an evaluation framework with essential criteria and specific use cases on leveraging data in an industrial context.

Industral Platforms

Digital platforms are particularly important in an industrial context. They serve as hubs where market participants can exchange and use data. Open platforms provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups with an opportunity to participate in emerging ecosystems. However, data use and processing, as well as platform operation, can also lead to misuse and conflicts.

A Clear Legal Framework is Required

In order to leverage the potential of data and platforms, a clear legal framework is required. This framework must take into account differences between B2B and B2C application areas and between individual sectors. It must also enable the secure legal handling of personal data, for example, by resolving existing uncertainties regarding anonymization and pseudonymization. We reject a general obligation to share data.

Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Data and Platforms

In addition to clear legal regulations, building trust is also necessary. This requires a shared set of values that are consistently applied in practice. When dealing with data, the responsible German and European data economies take a human-centered approach, making the protection of privacy and personal data paramount. Our values also include the principles of the social market economy, which promote fair competition. The target framework for sustainable digitalization is the implementation of the United Nations' global sustainability goals. We also see these goals as the foundation of values for the electrical industry, guiding our actions in international competition. To this end, we have developed the "ZVEI Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Data and Platforms." Based on this shared set of values, the guidelines detail the principles that guide the electrical industry in its use of data and platforms.

GAIA-X: A Trustworthy Data Infrastructure

Creating a trustworthy, networked data infrastructure will further promote data-driven innovation in the economy. Digital ecosystems based on European values should facilitate cross-border and cross-sector data exchange, thereby ensuring the competitiveness of European companies. This is why the ZVEI is actively involved in GAIA-X. The initiative promotes the development of a secure, user-friendly data ecosystem based on common rules and standards that will enable the sovereign exchange of data.