Our vision for data infrastructure
A data infrastructure only has value if it remains open. But open source infrastructure can only evolve sustainably if a community governs it, develops it and collectively contributes to its evolution. It is this shared governance that guarantees its transparency, interoperability and independence.
This is why Visions does not develop its infrastructure alone. We contribute, with our partners, to the main European initiatives that build the common foundations of data spaces. We develop open source components within Prometheus-X, contribute to the interoperability work of Gaia-X and IDSA, participate in standardisation carried by CEN-CENELEC and lead the development of the Data Space Interoperability Framework (DSIF).
Our contribution within Prometheus-X: building infrastructure in open source
Visions is a founding member of Prometheus-X, the association that governs, finances and evolves a shared open source infrastructure for European data spaces. Launched in the education, training and employment sectors, this initiative now brings together more than 30 organisations across 6 business sectors. Together, they carry a collective investment of approximately €20 million to develop the common components of future European data spaces.
Visions’ commitment goes far beyond simple membership. Matthias De Bièvre, CEO of Visions, chairs the association. Visions’ teams also lead the development of several essential Prometheus-X components. This infrastructure is based on shared components that cover all the needs of a data space: governance, contracts, catalog, connector, consent, identity and orchestration. It also integrates advanced components dedicated to anonymisation, trustworthy AI, semantics and federated computing, developed collectively for the benefit of the entire ecosystem. Among these components, Visions develops in particular:
- The Data Space Connector, which enables any organisation to join a data space and interact with catalog services, contractual negotiation and consent management
- The Catalog, Contract and Consent components, operated via VisionsTrust to validate their functioning under real conditions before their integration into the common infrastructure
For data circulation infrastructure, open source is not merely a technical choice. It guarantees the transparency, interoperability and independence of the ecosystem. Each organisation can verify how software works, deploy it without depending on a single provider and contribute to its evolution. This approach ensures that no actor, including Visions, becomes a mandatory point of passage.
Our contribution within GAIA-X: making interoperability a technical reality
Gaia-X is a consortium resulting from a Franco-German initiative. It brings together several hundred organisations around a common objective: to build an open, transparent and secure digital ecosystem where data and services flow in a trusted environment. For Visions, this is a natural area of engagement: interoperability is not an optional technical feature among others, it is the condition without which no data space can function at the European scale. Visions contributes to the standardisation work carried by GAIA-X to promote interoperability between European Data Spaces through active participation within:
- The Gaia-X France Hub, where teams participate in the Education and Skills Data Space working group, which defines the interoperability rules for skills, training and guidance data
- Technical working group dedicated to consent management in the Gaia-X architecture. The objective is to harmonise this essential function for personal data and guarantee its interoperability between data spaces
Gaia-X is not limited to a charter of principles. The consortium also publishes a Trust Framework, which defines the trust rules allowing recognition of trusted players in the ecosystem. It also publishes a self-descriptions model, structured sheets readable by machines that describe datasets and services.
In participating in Gaia-X, Visions does not seek to impose its own technology as a reference. The company contributes to defining common, open and verifiable rules. This approach makes interoperability a property of the infrastructure rather than an advantage reserved for those who control it.
Our contribution to the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA): implementing the protocol that makes interoperability work
The International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) brings together nearly 200 organisations around a common objective: to enable companies and individuals to maintain control of their data while sharing it within a trusted framework. To achieve this, the association develops and maintains the Dataspace Protocol (DSP). This standard defines exchanges between data spaces, from resource discovery to contract negotiation, through data sharing and usage control. Gaia-X establishes the trust rules. IDSA provides the technical protocol that enables different connectors to interact. Visions’ teams develop in open source the Prometheus-X Data Space Connector, which directly implements the Dataspace Protocol. This connector includes:
- A public API that allows communication with other Data Space Connectors and infrastructure services, regardless of the data space of origin
- An administration API intended to configure the data space
An access control component that applies data and service usage policies
By relying on a public specification rather than on a proprietary format, Visions guarantees verifiable interoperability. Any organisation that implements the Dataspace Protocol can connect to a data space operated via VisionsTrust, without specific development or bilateral technical negotiation.
Our alignment with CEN-CENELEC: anchoring interoperability in formal European standards
CEN and CENELEC are the official European standardisation bodies, alongside ETSI. Unlike Gaia-X or IDSA, which develop technical specifications collaboratively, CEN and CENELEC transform them into recognised European standards across the single market.
This approach applies directly to the technological foundations used by Visions. In 2024 and then in 2025, CEN-CENELEC published the two parts of CWA 18125 and CWA 18245 on Trusted Data Transactions. These CEN Workshop Agreements are pre-standards developed collectively before possible European standardisation. They build on the work carried out by Gaia-X, IDSA and the Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) to define a common framework of trust around data transactions.
This dynamic continues at the European level. In July 2025, the European Commission launched standardisation mandate M/614 to develop a harmonised standard on trusted data transactions.
Our contribution to the Data Space Interoperability Framework (DSIF): creating a common framework for data space interoperability
Visions leads the development of the Data Space Interoperability Framework (DSIF). This interoperability framework makes it possible to connect different data spaces without replacing existing technologies. It defines the common components, technical specifications and federation mechanisms necessary for creating a true single data market. To evolve this framework, Visions leads the DSIF Core Team. This team brings together infrastructure providers and data space operators to develop common interoperability components, define shared specifications and accelerate their adoption. The work focuses in particular on catalogs, contracts, trust mechanisms, federation and governance models.
VisionsTrust: all this work brought together in a single platform
VisionsTrust, our data space operation platform, applies the standards carried by Gaia-X, IDSA, CEN-CENELEC and the Data Space Interoperability Framework (DSIF). It relies on open source components from Prometheus-X, notably the Catalog, Contract, Consent and Data Space Connector. These components are directly derived from this work or developed to remain compliant with their specifications. This approach translates concretely into the platform’s features. The VisionsTrust catalog uses self-descriptions compliant with Gaia-X to describe each service and dataset. Other catalogs in the ecosystem can thus discover, reference and display them without additional conversion.
Organisations that join VisionsTrust thus benefit from interoperability already aligned with European repositories. They can connect their data and services without developing or negotiating specific mechanisms with each partner. VisionsTrust thus transforms European standards into an operational infrastructure based on open technologies rather than proprietary solutions.
Notre contribution au sein de GAIA- X
Gaia X met en place une infrastructure qui repose sur un écosystème numérique ouvert, transparent et sécurisé, où les données et les services sont mis à disposition, rassemblés et partagés dans un environnement de confiance.
Pour cela Gaia X s’appuie sur une équipe internationale issue de plusieurs centaines d’organisations travaillant ensemble à la création de la prochaine génération d’infrastructures de données.
Au sein du French Hub de GAIA X, Visions participe au groupe Education and Skills Data Space
Visions participe au groupe de travail technique sur le respect du consentement dans l’architecture GAIA X
