The Territory and Sustainability data space is a collaborative infrastructure that enables public administrations, cooperatives, trade associations, businesses and local stakeholders to share, link and utilize data in a secure and governed manner; it is led by Kiwa España, with the IRTIC participating. Its aim is to transform information relating to environmental, social, economic, urban, rural, agricultural and industrial matters into useful knowledge to improve sustainability, competitiveness and quality of life in any region.
In this regard, a data space is a secure, governed and collaborative environment in which different organizations, whether public or private, share and use information in accordance with their own rules. Its aim is to transform scattered data, which they always retain control over, into practical value, thereby enabling the creation of digital services, advanced analytics and useful knowledge for decision-making.
Territory and Sustainability turns data into an opportunity to better understand the region, act with greater precision and make decisions that create value for people, businesses and the environment. It operates through sectoral hubs, groups of organizations that share a common challenge, such as urban health, inshore fishing, sustainable agriculture, the circular economy and rural innovation.
Each node generates comparable data, accesses a shared service and develops a real-world use case, producing evidence-based indicators, models, analyses and digital tools. The result is an ecosystem in which data improves planning and efficiency, helps ensure compliance with regulations and certifications, enables the creation of advanced digital services, drives new business models and strengthens the sustainability and resilience of the region.
In this context, the Healthy Smart Cities node within Territory and Sustainability analyses the relationship between health, sustainability and quality of life in the region in which it operates. Anecoop’s Sustainability Observatory is a sovereign data platform run by the cooperative for agri-food organizations wishing to measure their contribution to sustainability, whilst Smart Village Rural is designed for rural municipalities seeking to digitize services and improve quality of life.
The circular economy and industrial symbiosis hub is aimed at industrial estates, business associations, waste management organizations and public bodies seeking to optimize waste management and improve logistical efficiency. As for the inshore fishing and blue economy hub, it focuses on fishermen’s associations, federations and organizations within the fishing sector seeking to improve coastal sustainability and enhance the value of local fishing.
How data spaces work
A data space does not centralize information on a single server. It is a collaborative ecosystem in which each organization retains its data at source and decides what to share, how and with whom. Participating organizations set their own terms of use, access and permissions. The model guarantees data sovereignty and protects sensitive information.
Data spaces operate within a reliable technical framework governed by the UNE 0087:2025 specification, the Data Governance Act (DGA) and standards for interoperability and traceability, thereby ensuring secure, comparable and trustworthy exchange.
Furthermore, this enables data from different systems to be linked, compared and reused, thus avoiding duplication and facilitating collaboration between organisations, sectors or regions.
Thanks to this infrastructure, it is possible to create advanced services such as automated analyses, observatories, planning tools, indicator dashboards and predictive models, all powered by up-to-date and reliable data.
Each entity that joins the initiative contributes data that it already holds or can easily collect, such as land use, green spaces or agricultural areas, environmental quality, transport, fishing or industrial activity, population or basic services, and the data space organizes this data, makes it comparable and enables useful information to be extracted automatically.
Participating organizations must define the challenge they wish to tackle, such as reducing climate risks, measuring a cooperative’s sustainability, improving waste management, optimizing rural services or analyzing the health of the local area. The system combines their data, identifies patterns and offers data-driven solutions.
In this way, they will have access to relevant, organized and validated spatial data, which they can incorporate into their own analyses, and thus justify decisions or support projects with a sound technical basis.
Throughout the process, participating local authorities are supported by a technical team that helps them link up data, interpret the results and define specific actions tailored to their local circumstances.
Being part of one of these networks therefore means having access to organized, up-to-date and useful data for decision-making; improving analytical and planning capabilities; more effective, data-driven management; easier access to certification and recognition; and technical support.
