Towards Digital Sovereignty: German Media Pilot Shared Data Systems

This report was originally published by ZDF.

For the first time, public and private media companies are working together on the future of digital media infrastructure. With ARD, ZDF, RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1, and the German Press Agency (dpa), some of the most important German media houses are involved in the launch of the initiative. Together, they will develop the technical and organisational foundations for a sovereign, national media data infrastructure by Autumn 2025. A decision will then be made as to whether a national “Media Data Space” will be permanently established from 2026 onwards. The project is coordinated by MISSION KI. The team is supported by the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, the co-initiators of the “Beyond Platforms Initiative,” and the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST.

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The ‘Media Data Space’ is meant to realise and strengthen digital sovereignty and competitiveness in Germany’s media landscape. The goal is to create a decentralised, AI-integrated data ecosystem. This will enable participating organisations to use their data in a sovereign manner and to develop innovative, collaborative services. The approach is designed to empower media companies to advance their digital transformation in the global marketplace on their own terms.

Partners Test Use Cases from the Media Sector

To this end, the partners are initially testing concrete use cases from the media sector. This will create the necessary technical infrastructure as a basis for further developing the data space. Among other things, the project addresses verifying the authenticity of news reports, detecting deepfakes with the help of shared AI models, harmonising usage data, personalising content, and jointly fine-tuning AI language models. Thanks to the principle of “compute to data,” data sovereignty always remains with the respective participating organisation. The AI “travels” to the data – not the other way around.

Based on the testing of these use cases, MISSION KI aims to develop a generalised standard as a technological foundation for new data spaces and AI-based innovations. To this end, MISSION KI has commissioned a specialised consortium consisting of Innovations- und Digitalagentur (ida) GmbH, Think-it GmbH, and Nexyo GmbH. This consortium is further developing the proven technical blueprint of the “Mobility Data Space” (MDS) from the mobility domain and adapting it to the needs of the media industry.

All societal stakeholders are invited to participate in the technical development of future-proof media ecosystems modelled on the European approach. Interested parties can contact the project team at acatech for further information and cooperation opportunities.

About MISSION KI: 

MISSION KI – National Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Data Economy is a project of acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, funded with €32 million by the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation (BMDS). The project aims to strengthen digital competitiveness and, as a lever project of the digital strategy, serves two areas of action: it supports the development of uniform standards and improves the availability and findability of data. Further information: www.mission-ki.de