This FSR Insights event will host the editors of the forthcoming second edition of the “Capacity Mechanisms in the EU Energy Markets” book to discuss how and why the book is intended to serve as a point of reference for regulators and policy-makers on how to design optimal capacity mechanisms in Europe.

Since the first edition of the edited book “Capacity Mechanisms in the EU Energy Markets” (Oxford University Press, 2015), these mechanisms have become a fact of life in member states’ energy markets and one of the hottest topics in the broader European regulatory debate. Concerned about the security of electricity supply, national governments are implementing subsidy schemes to encourage investment in conventional power generation capacity alongside already heavily subsidized renewable energy sources.

With the increasingly connected European electricity markets, the introduction of a capacity mechanism in one country not only tends to distort its national market but also may have unforeseeable consequences for neighbouring electricity markets. As these mechanisms are adopted by member states with limited supra-national coordination, as well as consideration for the cross-border impact, they tend to cause severe market distortions and put the future of the European internal electricity market at risk.

The “Capacity Mechanisms in the EU Energy Markets” book will take stock of the experience so far about how capacity mechanisms work and what consequences they have for the European internal electricity market. In particular, it will:

1. provide a cross-disciplinary view on capacity mechanisms, combining legal, economic and policy perspectives;
2. include a detailed overview of national capacity mechanisms and their implications for the EU internal market;
3. take a European approach, recognizing the need to understand the nature of market failures which are likely to occur in the European electricity markets;
4. offers an outsider’s view on the current developments in Europe, including contributions of recognized extra-EU energy experts.

Before the event, watch the video pills

Host and moderator

Lucila de Almeida | Florence School of Regulation (FSR) and NOVA School of Law

Speakers and book editors

Leigh Hancher | FSR and Tilburg University

Adrien de Hauteclocque | FSR and Court of Justice of European Union

Kaisa Huhta | University of Eastern Finland and Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law

Małgorzata Sadowska | ACER (TBC)

Discussants

Paolo Mastropietro | Comillas Pontifical University

Charles Verhaeghe | Compass Lexecon

Related material

Podcast on “The European Commission’s state aid decision on the Belgian capacity mechanism” by Kaisa Huhta and Leigh Hancher.

This webinar will discuss the options for designing a possible mechanism for a wholesale gas price cap. Oliver Koch from the European Commission will give an overview of questions which are being discussed among the European Union (EU) Member States – the state of play, followed by opinions from leading academics and think tanks.

The question of whether and how the EU should install a price cap for natural gas markets is at the top of the EU’s political agenda. Recent prices, around 1000% of the price of gas in 2020, with its knock-on effects on electricity markets, is causing hardship for citizens and business, with energy-intensive industry curtailing production, which threatens supply chains, and employment and is stoking inflation.

The situation is serious. On 30 September 2022, the EU adopted a regulation on an emergency intervention to address high electricity prices requiring Member States to adopt a cap on market revenues of infra-marginal generators and a profit clawback on oil and gas companies.

However, these measures partially treat the symptoms of high gas prices and are not the cause. They will only raise a fraction of the revenues that the Member States would need to properly subsidise citizens and industry over the coming two to three years, and they do not affect the underlying cause of high gas prices.

There is little surprise that many EU Member States are asking the European Commission for a proposal on a gas price cap. Little wonder, however, that other countries, previously reliant on Russian gas, are cautious. Once a price cap is installed, and thus no price competition exists between EU customers, how to ensure that available gas goes to the citizens and industries that need it most?

Programme:

Introduction and moderation

Christopher Jones | Florence School of Regulation (FSR)

Keynote presentation

 Oliver Koch I European Commission

 Discussant:

Alberto Pototschnig | FSR

Ilaria Conti | FSR

Bernd Weber | EPICO

Oscar Arnedillo | NERA Economic Consulting

Conclusions

Andris Piebalgs | FSR

The digitalization of Europe’s energy markets raises numerous questions in different regulatory contexts. This debate will examine novel regulatory issues raised by the drive towards system interoperability. What should be the overarching principles governing a European energy data space? What government interventions or data standards (if any) are required to make specific data use cases successful for achieving green transition goals? What types of regulatory instruments are best suited to achieve these goals?

On 1 June 2022, the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) was asked by the European Commission to submit non-binding framework guidelines setting out clear objective principles for the development of a network code on demand response, including load, storage and distributed generation.  The new rules will aim at enabling market access for demand response, as well as facilitating the market-based procurement of services by distribution and transmission system operators.

The proposed new EU rules on Data governance will aim at enabling market access for demand response, as well as facilitating the market-based procurement of services by distribution and transmission system operators. In the meantime, the European Commission will also publish its Digitalisation of Energy Action Plan to develop a competitive market for digital energy services and digital energy infrastructure that are cyber-secure, efficient and sustainable and ensure interoperability of energy data, platforms and services.

What should be the overarching principles governing a European energy data space? What government interventions or data standards (if any)  are required to make specific data use cases successful for achieving green transition goals? What types of regulatory instruments are best suited to achieve these goals?

Background

The proposed network code applies to all resource providers, all transmission and distribution system operators, and all wholesale markets and covers balancing and congestion management. A number of its draft articles (see the ACER framework guideline of June 2020) will apply to system operation and data management (articles 51 -74) and to congestion management (articles 84-104).  These articles envisage, inter alia, new EU rules on Data governance including data quality, responsibilities, data privacy and confidentiality and interoperability.

Albeit highly technical, these provisions raise important ‘high-level’ questions about data management and transparency. For example, it may be argued that even if transparency towards market parties is important to support the development of liquid and efficient markets, the publication of detailed grid and market data can also be problematic in some cases as the ability to predict congestions could cause gaming and market power abuse opportunities.

On 23 February 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a Regulation on harmonized rules on fair access to and use of data (hereafter referred to as the “Data Act”), to complement previous initiatives, including the EC communication entitled ‘A European strategy for data’ of 19 February 2020, and its Regulation 2022/868, commonly referred as the ‘Data Governance Act’. The proposed ‘Data Act’ will be legally binding and directly applicable in all member states. Its applicability to those active in the electricity markets at all levels is potentially very broad.  The Commission is also expected to publish its roadmap on the Digitalisation of Energy Action Plan  – to develop a competitive market for digital energy services and digital energy infrastructure that are cyber-secure, efficient and sustainable and ensure interoperability of energy data, platforms and services.

How will these more general initiatives interact with the specific issues to be covered in the proposed network code –  if at all?   The EU DSO Entity has for example already questioned a provision in the FG that TSOs shall receive all the data exchanged between the grid users and the SOs.  It is argued that data exchange between system operators should be bi-directional and limited to necessary data, and further that it might be better to highlight that the new rules must be in line with higher-level data regulation (including the new Data Act).

This FSR debate seeks to explore several broad themes arising out of these new regulatory developments with experts on the regulation of the European Union’s electricity market.

Agenda: 

Introduction & opening presentations

Leigh Hancher | Florence School of Regulation (FSR) and Tilburg University

Astrid Brunt | Statnett

Sonya Twohig | ENTSO-E

Panel discussion

Paul de Wit | EU DSO Entity

Marco Pasquadibisceglie | ARERA

Georg Harnter | Geode

Savannah Altvater | Eurelectric 

Concluding remarks

Leigh Hancher | FSR and Tilburg University

Alberto Pototschnig | FSR

This debate will host Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER), at the European Commission to discuss the implementation status of the REPowerEU Plan.

The European Union (EU) REPowerEU Plan is the response to the hardships and energy market disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The plan has four primary areas of action: energy supply diversification, energy savings, clean energy transition acceleration, investment and reform.

As Russia escalates the war, implementing the plan is necessary to provide households and industries with affordable energy. The plan requires strong coordination between the EU Member States and efficient implementation of agreed measures at the national level. The EU can find the best response to the energy crisis by acting together.

Short bio of Matthew Baldwin:

Mr Baldwin has been the Deputy Director-General of DG ENER since 1 June 2022. He oversees the work of the ‘Energy Platform Task Force’. Previously, he was Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), where he ran the Commission’s Horizon Europe Mission for 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 and was the coordinator for road safety and sustainable urban mobility. He has an extensive experience in EU policy issues. He served in the Cabinets of the European Commission’s President Barroso, Commissioner Lamy and Commissioner Hill.

Transforming Europe into a climate neutral economy by 2050 in line with the European Green Deal places a particular responsibility on the transport sector, which accounts for a quarter of the Union’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Specifically, transport will have to collectively reduce its GHG emissions by 90% by mid-century compared to 1990 levels. To this end, the European Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (2020) underlines that decarbonising transport while rendering it safer, more efficient and accessible requires advancing digitalisation and enhancing the use of data in all modes of transport across both the passenger and freight segments.

Unlocking the full potential of mobility and transport data is indeed essential to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable and smarter mobility system while offering valuable insights to policymakers. Digital technologies are already enabling innovations and disrupting all sectors of the economy. In transport, for instance, connected, automated and electric vehicles have seen major advances in recent years, while shared mobility and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) are transforming the way we move both people and goods. Data has an instrumental role to play in all these trends. In addition, there is a growing need to enable data re-use across sectors, notably between mobility and the health and energy sectors.

Notwithstanding, data availability, access and exchange in the transport sector today continue to be hampered due to unclear regulatory conditions, the lack of an EU market for data provision, the absence of an obligation to collect and share data, incompatible tools and systems for data collection and sharing, different standards, or data sovereignty concerns, among others.

In view of this, the European Strategy for Data aims to establish a Single Market for data, where data can flow between countries and sectors and be accessed and used easily, in full compliance with European values and rules. The strategy announces the establishment of data spaces in strategic areas, including transport, where the development of a common European mobility data space is to facilitate access, pooling and sharing of transport and mobility data, building on existing and future initiatives and platforms.

In doing so, it will take into account the horizontal governance set out in the data strategy, the Data Governance Act and the Data Act. This mobility data space should function in synergy with key systems, including energy, satellite navigation and telecommunications while being cyber-safe and compatible with Union data protection standards. At the same time, a level playing field for data in the value chain must be preserved so that innovation can thrive and new business models emerge.

Against this backdrop, the 10^th Florence Intermodal Forum, jointly organised by the Transport Area of the Florence School of Regulation and the European Commission’s DG MOVE (B4 Unit Sustainable and Intelligent Transport), will bring together relevant stakeholders representing policymakers, regulatory authorities, transport service providers, industry players, digital platforms and data sharing initiatives from different levels (from local to international). The Forum will offer a timely platform for the exchange of views on the key existing initiatives, opportunities and challenges to building a common European mobility data space. Stakeholders will be invited to identify existing mobility data sharing initiatives, gaps, overlaps and potential common building blocks.

Please kindly note that participation is by invitation only. 

Speakers’ presentation slides:

Introduction

Juan Montero – European University Institute

Kristof Almasy – DG CNECT

Session A

Gilles Carabin and Astrid Schlewing – DG MOVE

Session B

Lucie Kirstein – Acatech

Pauline Aymonier – TIER Mobility

Matteo Antoniola – 5T Torino

Session C

Kristof Almasy – DG CNECT

Session D

Katri Valkokari – VTT

Giulia Giussani – International Data Spaces Association

Roelof Hellemans – MaaS Alliance

This edition of FSR Talk will discuss how energy communities can contribute to the energy transition in Europe and beyond.

In the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe must radically transform its energy system to ensure a reliable and affordable energy supply to its citizens and firms.

Can energy communities be part of the toolbox that Europe and other parts of the world rely upon to accelerate the decarbonization of the energy system and shield consumers from extraordinarily high and volatile prices?

Falling renewable energy costs and digitalization of energy make it possible. However, is technological progress enough? Are households and firms concretely interested in joining collective action? Can viable business models be built around the notion of community energy? What is the role of public policies and regulation?

FSR faculty members Jean-Michel Glachant, Nicolò Rossetto and Swetha Ravi Kumar will discuss these issues with Sabine Lӧbbe, Fereidoon Sioshansi and David Robinson. These scholars recently edited a new book, “Energy Communities: Customer-Centred, Market-Driven, Welfare-Enhancing?”, which collects many relevant contributions on the matter from Europe, America and Australia. The Talk will be an opportunity to hear the main insights they got while producing the book and discuss the implications of the current energy crisis.

Agenda:

• Introduction and initial speech by the guest speakers: Jean-Michel Glachant (5’), Sabine Lӧbbe, Fereidoon Sioshansi, David Robinson (20’)
• Discussion with Nicolò Rossetto and Ashwitha Ramesh Tunga (15’)
• Q&A with the audience (20’)

Host: 

Jean-Michel Glachant | FSR

Guests: 

Sabine Lӧbbe | Reutlingen University

Fereidoon Sioshansi | Menlo Energy Economics

David Robinson | Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Discussants:

Nicolò Rossetto | FSR

Ashwitha Ramesh Tunga | FSR

Check out these relevant resources: 

Topic of the Month: Citizens taking the lead: what can consumers do to protect themselves from high energy prices?

Technical Report:  The future of renewable energy communities in the EU : an investigation at the time of the Clean Energy Package

Online Debate: Communities Dealing with Renewable Energy

Are electricity markets broken, and do we have to fix them? Or are the electricity markets doing what they are supposed to do, and do we have to complement them with other measures? What are the main measures we need to survive the crisis in the coming months? What are the main lessons learned that could help reform the electricity market?

Watch the video

Moderator:

Lucila de Almeida | FSR and Wageningen University & Research

Speakers:

Tim Schittekatte | FSR and MiT

Catherine Waddams | Norwich Business School of the University of East Anglia

Leigh Hancher | FSR

Leonardo Meeus | FSR

In a time of high natural gas price volatility, the EU is preparing for a hard winter, by filling its storage and trying to reduce its consumption by 10-15%.  

Beyond that, the EU aims to develop new sources and routes of reliable supply. The US is already a major producer of natural gas, but no pipeline connects it to the EU. Can increased exports of natural gas in the form of LNG help mitigate the energy crisis and prevent the supply shortages caused by the disrupted flows of gas from Russia?  

FSR faculty members Jean-Michel Glachant (FSR Director) and Alberto Pototschnig (Executive Deputy Director) will discuss the issue in depth with US gas industry and affairs expert Peter Hartley, professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE).  

Host: Jean-Michel Glachant and Sofia Nicolai (FSR)  

Invited guest: Peter Hartley (Rice University)  

Discussant: Alberto Pototschnig (FSR)  

Agenda:  

• Introduction and initial speech by the guest speaker: Jean-Michel Glachant and Peter Hartley (15’)  
• Discussion with Alberto Pototschnig and Sofia Nicolai (15’)  
• Q&A with the audience (15’)
• General conclusions by Peter Hartley (5′)

Relevant resources: 

• FSR course Specialised Training on the Regulation of Gas Markets   
• Topic of the Month: Decarbonising gas markets[Text Wrapping Break] 
  • Some reflections on current gas market price trends  
• Topic of the Month: Reacting to the new energy landscape  
  • All eyes on gas storage  
• LNGnet project  

This debate examines to what extent capacity subscription contracts could be part of enhancing the current electricity target model.

The event will examine to what extent the engagement of consumers explicitly to choose and pay for their preferred level of continuity of supply, beyond a guaranteed minimum, could be part of the enhancement of the current electricity target model better to face the challenges posed by an increasing penetration of renewables in the electricity system, with the resulting need for this system to become more flexible, and, more generally, to address the increasing resource adequacy concerns.

Programme

Introduction to the Debate and Opening Presentations

Alberto Pototschnig | Florence School of Regulation (FSR)

Michael Pollitt | Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Laurens De Vries| TU Delft

Panel Discussion: Introductory Remarks, Polls and Comments

Leigh Hancher | FSR and Tilburg University (Moderator)

Peter Claes | IFIEC

Breda Kutin | Slovene Consumers’ Association (ZPS)

Jana Haasová | ERU and CEER

Concluding Remarks:

Leigh Hancher | FSR and Tilburg University

Alberto Pototschnig | FSR

Background Information

Resource adequacy concerns have grown in the face of the increasing penetration of variable renewable energy generation and its impact on the distribution of prices in the wholesale electricity market and, more recently, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reduction of energy flows to Europe which have resulted and will result from the imposition of sanctions and the unilateral breach of contracts by Russian companies.

The Clean Energy for all Europeans Package introduced the requirement for annual European resource adequacy assessments[1]  and national resource adequacy assessments[2].

These assessments are aimed at identifying resource adequacy concerns that Member States shall address by removing the regulatory distortions or market failures which cause these concerns.

Beyond the removal of these distortions and failures, resources should be harnessed to ensure the balance between demand and supply at all times. Demand response can play an increasing role in this context, due to advances in technology and digitalisation, as it is likely to be the cheapest resource providing flexibility. Another way in which demand can engage and contribute to adequacy, or at least lower its cost, is by choosing the level of continuity of supply, rather than being provided with a standard one, irrespective of its value for the different consumers.

In fact, different consumers might attach different values to the guarantee of continuity of electricity supply[3]. This is especially the case when considering consumption for non-essential uses in excess of what is necessary to cover basic needs (lighting, cooking and heating). Therefore, schemes have been proposed where consumers can choose their preferred level of continuity of electricity supply and pay for it. Those opting for higher continuity will pay higher charges than those who are ready to have the power supplied to them reduced at time of scarcity.

This idea is not new, as it was conceptualised already more than thirty years ago as the priority service contracting approach or multi-level demand subscriptions[4], or, more recently, as the privatisation of reliability[5]. Lately, the approach was proposed again as the internet subscription model applied to electricity markets[6].

Beyond the basic idea, at the implementation stage a number of issues would need to be addressed, including some related to the long-term nature of the investments needed to improve service continuity. This could create a service continuity demand-supply mismatch if consumers were allowed to adjust their chosen level of service continuity frequently. Other implementation aspects relate to whether such an approach should be implemented in a centralised or decentralised manner and to consumer switching.

[1] Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity.
[2] Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943.
[3] In this context, the guarantee would refer to resource adequacy and would clearly not cover disruptions caused by transmission or distribution failures or other force majeure events.
[4] For example, H. P. Chao and R. Wilson, Priority Service: Pricing, Investment and Market Organization, The American Economic Review, 1987, vol. 77, no. 5.
[5] For example, Shmuel S. Oren, Privatizing Electric Reliability through Smart Grid Technologies and Priority Service Contracts, Proceedings of the IEEE PES Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, July 25-29, 2010
[6] For example, Michael Pollitt in his chapter in Jean-Michel Glachant, Paul L. Joskow, Michael G. Pollitt (eds.), Handbook on Electricity Markets, Edward Elgar Publishing, November 2021.

Moderated by Andris Piebalgs from the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), the debate will convene leading experts on methane emissions to review important scientific updates on methane and discuss the priority actions that are critical to achieving the Global Methane Pledge.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for over one-quarter of the climate warming we are experiencing today. The fossil fuel sector is one of the largest sources of human-made methane emissions and is the sector with the greatest potential for cost-effective, readily available emissions reductions. While we have enough information to act towards reducing these emissions today, better data will enable the targeted, ambitious action that is needed to reduce emissions in line with the levels needed to achieve the Paris Agreement, as well as tracking changes in emissions over time as mitigation strategies are implemented.

At COP 26, the US and the EU announced the Global Methane Pledge with over 100 signatories committing to achieve a collective methane emissions reduction of 30% by 2030. As core implementing partners of the Global Methane Pledge, the UN Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) collaborate to provide countries with the data, information, and support necessary to achieve these targets.

UNEP launched IMEO to improve the global understanding of methane emissions and connect findings to action on transparency, science, and mitigation. IMEO is a data-driven, action-focused initiative that takes an innovative approach to addressing the methane emissions problem by collecting, integrating, and reconciling methane data from different sources, with particular emphasis on measurement-based data. IMEO is creating a public global dataset of empirically verified methane emissions to provide a sound scientific basis for the Pledge.

The CCAC is a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society organizations committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate through actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants. Using the science-based findings of IMEO, CCAC supports the development of country profiles, national methane roadmaps, and mitigation plans through its Methane Roadmap Action Programme.

Agenda

Opening remarks:

Christopher Jones | FSR

Latest scientific findings on methane emissions:

Daniel Zavala | Environmental Defense Fund / IMEO

Manfredi Caltagirone | IMEO

Implementing the Global Methane Pledge: How UNEP’s IMEO and CCAC are building capacity to improve science, transparency, and policy:

Giulia Ferrini | IMEO

Martina Otto | CCAC – TBC

Q & A

Closing remarks:

Brendan Devlin | European Commission

Ilaria Conti | FSR

#FSRDebates

Europe’s electricity markets are regulated in detail via network codes, guidelines and terms and conditions or methodologies (TCMs). TCMs are an extensive set of binding rules that fill out the details of the system operation and market guidelines. However, they can be made at national, regional or European level. What does the sum of the adopted TCMs mean for harmonization, or for the possibilities to tailor rules to fit national or regional context – and what does this mean for delivering an internal electricity market in Europe? 

The workshop presents results from the INC project, led by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and with Florence School of Regulation among the research partners. The interdisciplinary workshop will take place physically in Florence 12-13 October, and will present initial findings from the INC project. Importantly, the purpose of the workshop is to facilitate an open discussion among interested stakeholders and researchers on the regulation of the European electricity market, and to take stock of the many, detailed rules in the broader context of EU governance and integration. 

On day 1 (starting at noon), the workshop will discuss the evolving rule of ACER, and consider the governance of the electricity sector in comparative perspective to examine whether the rulemaking process – decision-making by EU agencies and rulemaking processes involving private actors to supplement overarching EU legislation – is unique to the electricity sector or part of a broader European trend. On day 2 (starting in the morning), the workshop will take stock of the adopted TCMs to discuss the impact for overall harmonization and diversity of electricity market regulation in Europe, and look ahead to implementing and adjusting the rules and governance framework amid major challenges and changes in the energy sector. 

Participation is open to everybody but subject to registration and availability of seats. 

Join the discussion using the hashtag #INCproject

Research Briefs

1. The evolving role of ACER: emergence, practice, and review of the TCMs 
   By Torbjørg Jevnaker, Leigh Hancher and Karianne Krohn Taranger
2. Electricity rulemaking in perspective: comparing the TCM procedure with other sectors 
   By Eva Ruffing, Selma Schwensen Lindgren and Torbjørg Jevnaker
3.  Stocktaking of the adopted TCMs – towards harmonization or diversity? 
   By Torbjørg Jevnaker, Simon Fink, Karianne Krohn Taranger, Hermann Lüken genannt Klaβen and Per Ove Eikeland
4. Implementation and adjustment ahead: Enforcing, applying, and revising the TCMs during transition and crisis
   By Torbjørg Jevnaker, Marie Byskov Lindberg and Catherine Banet

About the INC project 

“Implementing Network Codes” (INC) is a collaborative and interdisciplinary research funded by the Research Council of Norway and Norwegian stakeholders (2020-2024, grant agreement no.308855). The focus of INC is the implementation of EU electricity market laws, specifically the rulemaking process for TCMs mandated by the market and system operation guidelines, and how this impacts the integration of the European electricity market. An international team of scholars from political science, law and economics work in close collaboration with industry experts, user partners and other relevant stakeholders. 

For further information, get in touch with rscas.conferences@eui.eu

The 11th FSR Annual Conference is an occasion to take stock of the progress made on the objectives outlined in the EU Data Strategy the Data Governance Act in the network industries. This new regulation will have impact on the various network industries, and at our conference, we will particularly focus on the areas of energy, climate, transport and telecommunications.

In February 2020 the European Commission (EC) has presented the European Data Strategy, which main objectives are to set up European Data Spaces, to create a single market for data and to develop an attractive, secure and dynamic data economy. Common European data spaces in the sectors of health, environment, energy, agriculture, mobility, finance, manufacturing, public administration, and skills, will ensure that more data becomes available for use in the economy and society, while keeping the companies and individuals who generate the data in control. The Data Governance Act published by the EC in November 2020, constitutes the first of the legislative proposals presented in the EU Data Strategy and applies to both personal and non-personal data. Its main objectives are to strengthen the availability of data for use by increasing trust in data intermediaries and to stimulate data sharing mechanisms across the EU.

What are strategic, technical and operational aspects of creating an interconnected, interoperable and trusted environment for data sharing in the network industries? How to encourage data sharing? Should data sharing be mandated? How will public sector bodies guarantee privacy and confidentiality? What existing or additional enablers are needed to ensure access to different data sources? What are the barriers to cross-sectoral data sharing? If the current investment in technologies and infrastructure is enough? What should be the governance of these data spaces? What is the role of digital platforms? What are the next steps? These are some of the questions that the conference will seek to discuss.

The conference is intended for academics such as PhD students, PostDocs and Assistant/associate/full Professors, as well as academically minded practitioners.