In the last three months, my fellows in the management team and I have spent an incredible amount of time in 121 calls with all Day 1 Members.

This was an extremely useful exercise to me, as I manage to ask all of you the very same questions: Who you are? Why have you joined Gaia-X? What do you expect out of Gaia-X? What is the contribution you can bring? Which risks do you see? Which recommendations or complaints do you have?

Here are some of the prevailing concerns and risks we learned about our talks:

• Gaia-X Association might become yet ‘another’ European Association that spends time defining processes and bureaucracy and not producing ‘business’ outcomes.
• Inefficient Working Groups – too many people will not produce more results unless selecting the more competent and avoiding endless discussions to achieve majority consensus.
• Non-transparent/open nomination process of committee members/chair – unclear how small organisations or best individuals can become part of Technical Committee, Policy Rules Committee…
• Unclear goal/strategy – what are the deliverables of Gaia-X? What is the roadmap? 
• Risk of disappointment and of losing speed 
• Only exclusive solutions, no look for alternatives.

Thank you very much for your openness! During our 121 calls, we had the opportunity to answer most of your questions and to share elements of our strategy and how, together with the management team, we will mitigate all these risks and turn them into opportunities. 

It was also very useful to exchange views on the strategy we are defining, and which will soon be described in a Gaia-X Vision and Strategy document I’m preparing with CTO Pierre Gronlier.

So, please keep bringing your feedback. Don’t be afraid to speak up, in your Working Groups, your Hubs, your Committees and reach out to your management team and the Board of Directors to help steer and drive us in the right direction!

Let’s do something amazing,

Francesco Bonfiglio

CEO Gaia-X Association, AISBL

1. Extraordinary General Assembly: New Board of Directors
2. Share your talents with Gaia-X
3. Next version of the Architecture Document
4. Federation Services: First round of specifications completed
5. https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:251:722:31cbfcb4fb11fe0bcc5289ba3a0a3dd7a7bf585c&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”6″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>Event recap: TechDeepDive on 19 May
6. Establishment of further national Hubs
7. New website as centerpiece of our communication
8. Register to the public newsletter
9. Upcoming events

The first Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA 21) of the Gaia-X Association, AISBL, took place on 7 June 2021. Off all 270 member organisations and companies those which had paid there fee were invited to elect the first Gaia-X Board of Directors via electronic voting, filling key positions of the organisation for the next two years. 177 member organisations had made use of the opportunity and voted. We are proud that transparency on the voting process enabled applications from companies of different sizes and a diverse selection of nominees. Out of 64 candidates, 24 were elected as Board members and two as independent Board members, Mr. Hubert Tardieu and Mr. Michael Bolle. Find here the https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:252:722:2c707865c586c026905ad5634fbd33318a2aa6f5&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”12″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>full list of Board members. The framework presentation of EGA 21 https://community.gaia-x.eu/s/xnHWw4xdyHJ889A. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”13″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>can be found here.

Whether you have skills in IT development and or experience in project management, the Gaia-X Association offers positions in a wide range. Currently, we have several open positions to strengthen our ranks:  

• Project Manager (m/f/d)
• Director of Communication/Press Officer (m/f/d)
• Internal Operations Manager (m/f/d)
• Automation Software Developer (m/f/d)
• Web3.0 Software Developer (m/f/d)
• Program Manager (m/f/d)
• Open-source Community Manager (m/f/d)

You can find the https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:253:722:75653f9bb7a4c900f05f0491852892931c0ee184&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”15″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>detailed job advertisements on our website.

The June release date of the Architecture Document is approaching, and we need your support and contributions more than ever. The two expected deliverables of this release are the first version of the Gaia-X operating model (macro view) and the roadmap.

The roadmap itself is split into two substreams:

• The Gaia-X core components, for which the operating model must first be approved.
• The Gaia-X user showcase, which will leverage the above core components and federation services.

To contribute, please note that the list of Gaia-X Work Packages/Working Group’s mailing list is available here: https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:254:722:e46206d9be6f1601a3243be27522ea88a53e59a4&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”17″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>https://list.gaia-x.eu/. Please subscribe and ask to join the groups you are interested in.

Four services that form the technical basis for the development of Gaia-X have now been specified. This concerns sovereign identities, a catalogue for providers and services, assistance for sovereign data exchange and compliance considerations. Now the https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:255:722:c62a3c436243237c421f669ee213a5bb46b8e7d5&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”19″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>tender phase starts: The aim is to select the best partners who will now convert the specifications into source code and thus create a reference implementation. This will be open-source and thus offer all interested parties the opportunity to become part of the new digital ecosystem themselves. At the end of 2021, the first functional services are to be available so that so-called federators can put them into operation for the respective federation. For more information, see the https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:256:722:5e08e54c50a5055290a16ae11cc5c0f5289116d9&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”20″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>press release of eco.

This year’s second edition of the “Technical Deep Dive” lived up to its name: Within 3 intensive hours, the members of the Technical Committee exchanged their latest findings. Klaus Ottradovetz (Atos) kicked things off with current insides on architecture and conceptual models and Stefan Ettl (BMW) and Bert Verdonck (Philips) complemented with concrete use cases. Michael Jochem (Bosch) and Dr. Anja Strunk (Cloud&Heat) gave an update from the WG Provider as Rémy Léone (Scaleway) and Andreas Weiss (eco) from the WG Federation Services. The session was rounded up by Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn (VW), who reported on the latest developments in the PRD consultation process, as well as the presentation by Gaia-X CEO Francesco Bonfiglio on the crucial topic of conformance and compliance labels. https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:257:722:b14c498a4fdab5792a6512c0b428752e0baa11c0&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”22″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>Rewatch the event on talque.

The work in the Hubs is progressing in leaps and bounds: In the meantime, the Hubs in Italy, Portugal and Slovenia have also been established. With Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, seven Hubs have now been established. The inauguration of several more Hubs is also completed. More are planned for the next months.

After weeks of technical, content-related and visual work, our new website https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:258:722:436d6f134413ef432bc99c7cf87b478b51269ac3&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”25″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>www.gaia-x.eu is finally online. Browse around and find all relevant information on Gaia-X. We would be pleased if you would share the website and news articles on it with your network and thus make the project better known to potential new members. https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:259:722:b7f91e5d8fb6841077734778e1b2ce8c993cfbd0&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”26″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>Check out our new website!

If you want to receive regular updates on Gaia-X in the future, please register via the https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:260:722:e25aee1b23b3d4d8fc02738a0e02a884ac5ec405&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”28″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>contact form.

This is especially important to Gaia-X contributors who are organised in national Hubs and Open Work Packages. With the handover of the project from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to Gaia-X Association, AISBL, it will otherwise no longer be possible for us to contact you regularly due to data protection laws. Please excuse the additional effort. We would be happy if we stay in touch and your interest in the development of the project continues!

11 June | Monthly Call | 09:30-11:00 CEST
Register here: https://online2.superoffice.com/Cust26633/CS/scripts/customer.fcgi?action=ejLink&key=85:261:722:f27703e6e57ab23d2c0a67fba836fd8348eab72e&sai=49667. Fare clic o toccare se si considera attendibile questo collegamento.” data-linkindex=”29″ style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;”>https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/133698828159125776