European standards body Etsi has set up a technical committee to deal with IoT data sharing.

It will handle support services for IoT, telecommunications systems and networks, as well as human services and other industries.

Called TC Data, the committee aims to advance data-driven technologies and support the development of industry standards. It will provide a centre of expertise in data infrastructures, services and applications. The committee will also develop technical standards to support data interoperability and semantic interoperability.

The aim is to promote responsible data sharing, enhance privacy and security, and drive innovation in relevant data intensive technologies, namely artificial intelligence and machine learning. The proliferation of AI and, in turn, agentic AI applications means data sharing patterns become more complex and require open infrastructures to address interoperability requirements. Data representation and availability, data access control, data consistency and data privacy preservation are all fundamental aspects that need to be considered as data volumes and the need for cross-sector data sharing soars.

“The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning means we have reached a tipping point where data access through open and transparent frameworks is now more important than ever before,” said David Boswarthick, director at Etsi. “TC Data is an important initiative designed to balance the technical needs of data interactions in a way that is also respectful of legal, ethical and individual rights. Global collaboration is critical to develop standards that will enable data sharing that has reliability, privacy and security at its core.”

One core mission of TC Data is to develop technical specifications to support the deployment and operation of distributed infrastructures for data collection, data sharing and data management.

“TC Data intends to collaborate closely with the European Commission to develop standards in support of the EU Data Governance Act,” said Diego López, convenor of the Etsi (www.etsi.org) group. “The adoption of data access frameworks by the telecommunications industry is a step forward in enabling the next generation of automation-driven information exchanges. The variety of use cases and the field of application of such work is extensive, so we are thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to its success in Etsi.”

While TC Data will first address the application of open data to telecommunication networks and services, in a second phase the principles and specifications will be applied to other environments. The committee aims to create an open ecosystem enabling industrial options in different sectors such as maritime transport, ehealth, agriculture and network management.