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Ensuring safe data exchange is a universal concern at a time when many of the world’s economies are digitally transforming. This was evident during a recent visit to Japan by Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency of Luxembourg.

The agency fosters projects that stimulate the development of a sustainable, competitive and digital economy.

One such project is Lux-XDataSpace4Health (LXDS4H), which has been selected by Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Economy as a GAIA-X flagship project that will lay the technical foundation for the secure exchange of health-related data between Luxembourg and other countries – both in Europe and elsewhere. It addresses regulatory requirements, the monetization of health data and new medical treatment possibilities that leverage data and AI.

The goal of the Gaia-X initiative, announced by the German and French governments in October 2019, is to develop digital governance that can be applied to any cloud and edge technology stack to obtain transparency, controllability, portability and interoperability across data and services.

NTT DATA Luxembourg has joined an LXDS4H alliance aimed at aligning medical and political healthcare stakeholders on healthcare-related data exchange for Luxembourg that complies with European regulations. The alliance also includes Hôpitaux Robert Schuman, the Luxembourg Institute of Health, the National Centre for Translational Cancer Research, and Luxembourg National Data Services, among others.

The alliance will focus in particular on use cases in Luxembourg related to diabetes and oncology, and in time expand their activities to industries beyond healthcare.

The importance of data-exchange standards

Michael Mossal of NTT DATA and Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation with Noboru Koshizuka-san (Chairman of Japan’s Data Society Alliance and professor at the University of Tokyo) and Nobuyuki Ogura-san (Chief International Expert at Ogura Consulting)

Michael Mossal of NTT DATA and Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation with Noboru Koshizuka-san (Chairman of Japan’s Data Society Alliance and professor at the University of Tokyo) and Nobuyuki Ogura-san (Chief International Expert at Ogura Consulting) and Isamu Yamada-san (researcher at the University of Tokyo)

During Luxinnovation’s visit to Tokyo, a meeting between Ralf Hustadt, the Gaia-X coordinator for Luxembourg, and Noboru Koshizuka-san, his Japanese peer who is also Chairman of Japan’s Data Society Alliance, explored the possibilities for stronger collaboration between the two countries on data spaces and data sharing.

Similar European–Asian projects like Catena-X, which regulates data exchange between the German automotive industry and their Asian suppliers, have already had some success, and it is hoped that LXDS4H can follow suit.

At the meeting, which was held at the University of Tokyo, Koshizuka-san highlighted the need for secure data-exchange standards between Japan and Europe. He said Japan appreciated Europe taking the initiative on data-exchange regulations, but added that the country wanted to be a sovereign partner in this area and not just blindly follow the European lead.

Ralf said Gaia-X was an open community allowing all members – independent of their nationality – to contribute to the creation of standards.

Data Society Alliance Vice President Asai Kohataro-san explained how Japan was already collaborating on data-sharing projects and taking part in tests created with the support of NTT in Japan.

Asai Kohataro-san (Vice President of the Data Society Alliance and Technical Adviser at Mitsubishi Electric, Corporate R&D) with Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation and Michael Mossal of NTT DATA

Asai Kohataro-san (Vice President of the Data Society Alliance and Technical Adviser at Mitsubishi Electric, Corporate R&D) with Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation and Michael Mossal of NTT DATA

Using R&D to chart a way forward

Luxinnovation also visited the NTT R&D Forum 2023 in the Japanese capital, which focused on Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) technologies and use cases as well as NTT DATA’s technology for generative AI.

At the forum, they met with Akira Sakaino-san and Koki Mitani-san, who work on data spaces at the NTT Software Innovation Center, to gain an understanding of our efforts related to data exchange – up to the level of hardware encryption – and the testing programs we run in Japan and Germany.

Eiji Yoshida-san (right), Head of R&D Headquarters at NTT DATA, with Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation and Michael Mossal of NTT DATA

Eiji Yoshida-san (right), Head of R&D Headquarters at NTT DATA, with Ralf Hustadt of Luxinnovation and Michael Mossal of NTT DATA

Then came a meeting at NTT DATA’s Japanese headquarters with Masaru Dobashi-san, Executive IT Specialist, and Taichi Imura-san, Deputy Manager: Green Innovation Office. While our Software Innovation Center focuses on our research and development regarding data spaces and data sharing, it is NTT DATA that puts the findings into practice.

Building bridges

The Tokyo visit was a solid first step to closer collaboration between the Gaia-X Hub Luxembourg, LXDS4H, DATA-EX, the University of Tokyo, NTT DATA Japan and NTT Research.

Our involvement underscores our commitment to shaping a future where data exchange is safe, efficient and beneficial for all. We are proud to have supported the building of bridges between Japan and Luxembourg on the topic of data sharing, and we look forward to the LXDS4H project benefiting from this collaboration.