Full throttle on data

The world of data is constantly evolving, with new regulations frequently emerging to shape its landscape. While "data regulations" often evoke thoughts of burdens and compliance hurdles, the upcoming EU Data Act, set to apply in just four months on September 12, 2025, presents a significant opportunity for businesses.

The core message is clear: this isn't merely about compliance; it's about unlocking new value, fostering innovation, and driving business agility. The economic benefits are substantial, with projections indicating an additional €270 billion of GDP thanks to new data rules and 5-10% faster growth for companies that invest in data-driven innovation.

Beyond the burden: The data act's core promise

The EU Data Act aims to facilitate easier and fairer access, sharing, and use of data across business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-government (B2G) interactions. It establishes requirements for commercial business models and data processing services, and importantly, it mandates easier switching between data processing (cloud and edge) services. It's crucial to note that non-compliance can lead to substantial fines, comparable to GDPR breaches, up to 4% of yearly turnover or 20 million Euros.

The act applies broadly to all connected products — essentially, any device that produces data during use by a consumer. This includes data processing services related to or incorporated into these connected products, encompassing both cloud and edge data. Purely digital services without incorporation or connected to a product are not in scope.

Real-world opportunities the data act unlocks

What does this mean in practical terms? Here are three tangible ways the EU Data Act can drive real business benefits across industries. 

• Cheaper aftermarket services & reparation: Consider a factory robot that breaks down. Currently, only the manufacturer might have access to the data, leaving the user with no alternative but to call them for repairs. With the data act, the user could request that a repair service, potentially a cheaper alternative, also gains access to that data, leading to more competitive prices and increased choice.

• New data-driven services: Imagine a farmer with equipment from various manufacturers, such as a tractor and an automatic irrigation system. Previously, data was locked with each manufacturer, preventing consolidated analysis. Now, a company could gather data from all this disparate equipment and provide customized advice, optimizing the farmer's operations. This could lead to 10-20% expected savings in the transport and industry sectors.

• Better access to data for users and manufacturers: Take the example of a bar owner who wants to serve better coffee, and the coffee machine company that seeks to improve its product. Previously, only the company might access data like water quantity or temperature for design purposes, while the bar owner could not access such information. The data act clarifies that both parties can access all data collected by the machine, empowering the bar owner with insights and the company with valuable feedback for future designs.

These scenarios highlight a fundamental shift: from data silos to a more open, competitive, and innovative data economy.

Why the automotive sector should care

For the automotive industry, the implications are particularly significant. All data generated by use cases running on a vehicle data platform, whether offboard (in the cloud and sent to vehicles) or onboard (models deployed in the vehicles), appears to be in scope.

This presents a tremendous opportunity to:

• Enable easier external data sharing: External data sharing and enabling switching becomes significantly easier when designed for from the outset.

• Standardize interfaces: Minimize the effort for integrations and increase efficiency. (Remember when DIN standardized screws and bolts? This gave a huge boost to the entire manufacturing sector!) 

• Work on more use cases: There's immense potential to develop new use cases by leveraging data from other manufacturers or operators.

• Establish proper data governance and standard interfaces: This will be crucial for maintaining data quality and interoperability. Clear, defined interfaces can actually simplify operations.

• Forge strategic partnerships: Think about the potential for collaborations in after-sales service, insurance, and other areas where data access can create new value streams.

• Incentivize data sharing: Users can be incentivized to share data by providing analytics, perhaps through reduced subscription costs and/or reduced costs for other integrated services.

   

Time to act: Don't wait!

With the data act going live in just four months, time is ticking. Waiting to act may not be wise. Instead of viewing data access as a mere obligation to provide raw data, consider how to monetize high-value, aggregated, or cleaned data in reusable data products. Obtaining field data back from users, or even rental companies, via a standard process is a clear chance to gain more insights into high-level usage patterns and provide better near real-time recommendations for users.

Ultimately, the EU Data Act offers increased legal certainty when handling device data. It is truly an opportunity, not a burden. Data access gets easier up and down the value chain – and that is great!

For an EU Data Act deep dive watch the recording of Sebastian Werner's talk at Automotive Masterminds.