International pulse - North-America

At CES 2025, dataspaces take center stage in AI readiness and supply chain transformation. With pioneers like Catena-X and Ouranos, cross-organizational data sharing is unlocking high-quality datasets for AI and digital twins. Showcasing business cases from Ford-Flex+ to IAV’s internal dataspace, we explore how dataspaces fuel sustainability, efficiency, and next-gen automotive innovation.

Catena-X partners with AIAG to launch a North American hub, advancing data sharing for sustainability in automotive supply chains. Their innovative approach uses Web3 technology for secure, scalable, and efficient data exchange, including live demonstrations of Product Carbon Footprint tracking.

The Telekom Data Intelligence Hub, alongside Acatech and DLR, recently embarked on a U.S. tour to discuss and showcase the potential of dataspace technology in the automotive and aerospace industries. The delegation visited Washington D.C. to engage with policymakers at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and continued to Silicon Valley to connect with tech innovators at Stanford University and Accenture Labs. The tour underscored the global importance of dataspaces and their transformative impact on supply chains, emphasizing the successful integration and commercial viability demonstrated at events like CES and Hannover Fair 2024.

Ford, Flex, T-Systems International, and IBM have collaborated on a groundbreaking product carbon footprint (PCF) tracking pilot using Catena-X technology, the first open data ecosystem for the automotive industry. The pilot, demonstrated successfully at CES 2024, showcases the seamless exchange of PCF data across the supply chain, addressing industry challenges and establishing standards. Participants gain access to a free sandbox environment, Catena-X certified connectivity, and IBM's Supply Chain Intelligence Suite for tracing PCF values.

Explore the revolutionary PCF pilot at CES 2024, where Cofinity-X, in collaboration with Ford, Flex, Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems, and IBM, addresses CO2 emissions in the automotive sector. Witness the cutting-edge solution leveraging Web3 technology, featuring a dataspace and digital twins, to establish a cross-organizational data chain. Visit us at LVCC West Hall, room 323, from Jan 9-11 to experience the live demo and join the PCF pilot data chain.

Catena-X, the open data ecosystem in the automotive sector, made a significant impact at the 2023 CESMII Annual Member Meeting. Collaborating with CESMII, Catena-X showcased its innovative approach to smart manufacturing, focusing on regulatory compliance, data-driven super-apps, and decentralized technology. The Catena-X Association's dialogue with CESMII led to discussions about expanding their open-source software core in the U.S. The joint exploration of a C-X Hub U.S. with CESMII marked a successful step in accelerating Catena-X's activities in the U.S., as reflected in their recent engagements and presentations.

If it didn’t already exist, given recent innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT, dataspaces would have to be invented now. With modern AI, it is becoming increasingly challenging to establish what’s real and how to trust data. A dataspace is a data-sharing (not storage) network that sits above clouds and ensures that a data transaction can be trusted – even between partners who do not trust each other, such as competitors (see “Dataspace Top 10”, link). This magic allows for new data chains, such as digital twins (a) across internal departmental silos, (b) along entire supply chains, and (c) internationally. These data chains in turn enable novel “super-apps” to solve big problems such as product carbon footprint (PCF) tracking for sustainability and material traceability for quality control of batteries – altogether for more resilient supply chains and a more circular economy. Catena-X (Latin for “chain”) is harnessing dataspace innovation to create a blueprint and standards for the world’s first open and collaborative data ecosystem: https://catena-x.net/en/.

On June 5, 2023, at the North American Catena-X event in Austin - T-Systems and Amazon Web Services (AWS) joined hands to provide the first dataspace sandbox development environment in the United States. This engagement is an effort to support the expansion of dataspaces for the automotive industry.

Do you continue just to store data, or are you sharing? Either way, we’d like to invite you to take part in a Catena-X event on June 5th, 2023, in Austin, TX. Catena-X is the world’s first open and collaborative dataspace and ecosystem, launched recently in Europe. Now, leading automakers, their suppliers and service providers are bringing this paradigm-shifting data-sharing system to North America. This event will be your opportunity to talk to the founders and leaders from Catena-X, Gaia-X and the International Data Space Association (IDSA), to understand the importance of dataspaces to business, to experience their capabilities and impact, and enjoy a front-row seat to the launch of the Catena-X Hub in North America.