From Ownership to Use: Why Data Sharing Is the New Strategic Imperative

Data ownership is no longer the key to value creation – those who want to unlock business potential must share.

Whether driven by regulation, sustainability goals, or efficiency gains, companies in regulated industries are increasingly required to share data in a structured, secure, and collaborative manner. But effective data sharing requires more than technology – it demands new mindsets, governance models, and clearly defined responsibilities.

Data Sharing ≠ Data Disclosure

A common misconception: Data sharing does not mean unrestricted access to all information. Rather, it involves providing controlled and contextual access to specific datasets, governed by well-defined roles, rules, and responsibilities. This is the only way to meet regulatory requirements and achieve strategic business outcomes.

1. Regulatory Data Obligations as a Starting Point

In regulated sectors, data sharing is no longer optional – it’s a legal obligation, often with high technical complexity and strict audit requirements.

Typical examples:

• Pharma & Life Sciences: Clinical trial and safety data submissions (EudraVigilance, SPOR, IDMP).
• Financial Services: Risk and ESG reporting under CRR/CRD and the new EBA reporting frameworks.
• Aviation & Maritime: CO₂ emissions data to ICAO, CORSIA, and THETIS-MRV.
• Chemical Industry: Joint data registration under REACH (SIEFs, REACH-IT).
• Agri-Food: Traceability via TRACES and compliance with EU Regulation 178/2002.

👉 IT service providers support with:

• Integration with regulatory submission platforms
• Automation of data extraction and validation
• Secure storage of audit-relevant data

Important: Without structured, traceable, and machine-readable data, regulatory compliance – and even market access – becomes impossible.

2. ESG Data as a Reputation Currency

Beyond compliance requirements like CSRD and the EU Taxonomy, new voluntary ESG standards are gaining influence – including CDP, SBTi, GRI, and TNFD.

Why it matters: ESG transparency is quickly becoming a prerequisite for B2B partnerships, investments, and financing. Companies unable to provide Scope 3 emissions data risk being excluded from tenders.

👉 IT service providers enable:

• Collection and aggregation of ESG-relevant data
• Transformation into standardized disclosure formats
• Integration with ESG portals and supplier systems

ESG reporting is shifting from static PDFs to continuous, API-based data flows. ESG is becoming an infrastructure task, not just a communications one.

3. Supply Chain Transparency as a Risk Lever

Effective risk management in procurement now requires structured data exchange beyond Tier 1 – such as:

• Production capacity insights
• Transport delays
• Material availability
• ESG and origin documentation

The automotive sector is leading the way with data-driven collaboration networks like Catena-X, a federated platform for secure data sharing across the value chain.

👉 IT service providers offer:

• Data capture and monitoring across the entire supply chain
• Integration with logistics or sustainability platforms
• Dashboards for real-time risk analytics

Key point: Resilient supply chains require connected data streams – not disconnected spreadsheets.

4. Data Accompanies Products Throughout Their Lifecycle

With upcoming Digital Product Passports (DPP) under the EU Green Deal, products become data carriers. From material composition and repairability to recyclability, machine-readable information must accompany products throughout their lifecycle.

👉 IT-Dienstleister leisten hier:

• DPP-compliant data models
• Integration with federated platforms (e.g. EUDPP)
• Semantic interoperability across supply chains

📌 Circular economy also means circular data. Without digital continuity, true circularity cannot be achieved.

5. Research & Innovation Platforms on the Rise

Some of the most forward-looking data spaces are being built not by mandate, but through voluntary cooperation:

• EHDS (European Health Data Space): Shared health data for research and care delivery
• Manufacturing-X: Industrial data sharing to accelerate AI, transparency, and sustainability
• Open Manufacturing Platform, IDSA, Gaia-X: Federated, open reference architectures for data ecosystems

👉 IT service providers contribute to:

• Building sovereign data spaces aligned with Gaia-X principles
• Defining roles, policies, and access controls
• Providing trust services and identity management

Core principle: Controlled openness instead of full disclosure. Data spaces enable selective sharing without loss of control.

Data Sharing: The Emerging Core Competency

Across all use cases, one insight prevails:

Owning data in isolation is no longer a competitive advantage. Value emerges through connected thinking, open architectures, and regulatory readiness.

To make this shift, organizations need:

• Data governance instead of silos
• Platform capabilities over point solutions
• And most of all: a clear roles-and-architecture strategy

🔜 Preview: Part 3 of our series

In the next article, we explore how organizations can technically, legally, and operationally prepare for data sharing – from selecting interoperable APIs to defining access control models and involving external partners.

Let us support you move from data potential to data performance.

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• Digital Product Passport: Data Management Challenges » Learn more