Gaia-X is a joint German-French initiative whose aim is to create a European cloud within Europe: a federated cloud, based on European legislation and regulations, in which providers work together and which can compete with the large global cloud providers in terms of functionality. One of the key goals of Gaia-X is to arrange the governance of this federated European cloud. The Gaia-X Foundation was established in Brussels. Parties can participate in this foundation to help shape the governance of the future European cloud.
The Online Trust Coalition plans to participate in the Gaia-X Foundation, and specifically to join the working group with the remit ‘assurance’ (reliability and security) of cloud services.
Progress of action point:
Since June 2021, the OTC has been a member of the Gaia-X AISBL. The OTC participates in the Working Group Providers (AISBL) and the X-Association (AISBL) as a reviewer. The OTC is also a member of the Gaia-X community, where it participates in Open Work Package Compliance (Gaia-X Community).
The OTC is involved in the Gaia-X Hub. Gaia-X Hub The Netherlands focuses on the Dutch contribution to the European data and cloud infrastructure, Gaia-X. This is a European initiative to develop a data and cloud infrastructure that safeguards European values such as data sovereignty. TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) is coordinator of the hub and is supported by the ECP (Electronic Commerce Platform) | Platform for the Information Society. The hub focuses on how the European data and cloud infrastructure should look from a Dutch standpoint and how to ensure that the Dutch perspectives are included in the European discussions. For the OTC, the Gaia-X Hub is the central place in the Netherlands where the theme of the Online Trust Coalition — trust — comes together.
