Data sharing is becoming an increasingly important part of digital manufacturing and business collaboration. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it can create real opportunities: better efficiency, stronger supply-chain cooperation, new digital services, and support for emerging requirements such as the Digital Product Passport.
Yet for many SMEs, getting started can feel complex, costly and risky. Which data should be shared, and with whom? Who stays in control of it, and will the investment pay off? This is why SMEs should start small.
A focused data-sharing use case lowers the complexity and the risk, and makes it easier to demonstrate business value early. Rather than building broad data-sharing infrastructure from the start, SMEs can begin with a limited set of data, one business partner and one clearly defined problem. This makes it possible to test whether data sharing delivers real benefits, while building the skills and confidence needed for wider cooperation.
Start with one practical use case
An SME could, for example, share selected production data with a supplier to improve planning, exchange logistics information with a customer to reduce delays, or provide the product information required for a Digital Product Passport.
The goal is choosing the right data for a clear purpose.
Working through one practical use case helps a company answer a few concrete questions:
- Which data actually needs to be shared?
- Who should be allowed to access it?
- Under which conditions can it be used?
- How can data from different systems be exchanged?
- How should security, confidentiality and regulatory requirements be addressed?
- What measurable business value does the cooperation create?
Working through these questions gives employees and managers hands-on experience with data governance, interoperability, access and usage rights, security and data sovereignty.
If the pilot delivers value, it can become the foundation for broader cooperation with suppliers, customers and other business partners.
A practical pathway towards data spaces
Starting small is also a useful way for SMEs to prepare for participation in data spaces.
Data spaces are designed to let organisations exchange and use data across company boundaries while keeping control over how their data is accessed and used. This matters particularly for SMEs, which may see the potential of data-driven collaboration but remain wary of losing control over commercially sensitive information.
This is where the principles promoted by Gaia-X become relevant. Gaia-X supports trusted and interoperable data ecosystems built on principles such as transparency, interoperability and data sovereignty. For SMEs, engaging with these concepts does not require a large technology investment or a complex data-sharing platform. It can begin with one supplier, one dataset and one business problem.
For SMEs approaching data spaces for the first time, the more useful starting question is: which data-sharing use case could solve a real business problem today?
By starting with a focused use case, SMEs can test the value of data cooperation, understand the risks involved, and gradually build the technical, organisational and legal capabilities needed to participate in wider data ecosystems.
This progression, from a single pilot to a broader data-sharing roadmap, is central to Module 5 of the VET4DATACOOPERATION training programme, which helps manufacturing companies plan how to scale data cooperation once an initial use case proves its value.
VET4DATACOOPERATION, an Erasmus+ KA220-VET project, supports manufacturing stakeholders in building the knowledge and practical skills needed for trusted data cooperation. Through practical training, real-world examples and innovative learning resources, it helps companies understand data sharing, data spaces and concepts such as Gaia-X, and translate them into practical business opportunities.
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