Data Spaces: How ADIF, Evidence, and Vithas Share Information Securely and with Strong Governance

Sharing data across organizations without giving up control is no longer a vision for the future—it is a reality that businesses and public institutions are building today, one sector at a time. Data spaces are precisely that: environments where different stakeholders can exchange information while ensuring data sovereignty, trust, and governance at every stage of the process.

This was the focus of our latest webinar, where we explored real-world use cases and discussed the opportunities data spaces create for generating new business value. If you missed it, you can watch the full recording here:

A Panel of Experts from Three Different Sectors

María Muñoz Ferrer, Head of IoT & Data Business Development at Telefónica Tech, moderated a discussion featuring three professionals who are tackling this challenge from very different perspectives:

• Mario Rodríguez, Deputy Director of Digital Transformation Governance and Data Strategy at ADIF.
• Pedro Lisbona, Director of Evidence Data at Evidence, a group specializing in clinical research.
• Javier Villalón, Director of Healthcare Management at the Vitas hospital group.

Telefónica Tech is currently supporting the deployment of some of Spain’s most significant data spaces—including healthcare, agriculture, and tourism—helping public organizations and private companies connect to them securely and under robust governance frameworks. This webinar provided an opportunity to hear firsthand how three very different organizations are approaching this journey.

ADIF: From Sharing Operational Data to Envisioning Its Own Railway Data Space

ADIF has been sharing information for years through multiple channels: standardized messaging with the European Union Agency for Railways, real-time timetable information, open data published through its GIS portal, and the SIMP logistics interoperability project. However, the emerging European ecosystem—driven by the Mobility Data Act, the European Mobility Data Space (EMDS), and the new Telematics Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI)—introduces a new scenario involving more stakeholders and data that extends beyond purely operational information.

According to Mario Rodríguez, one of the key challenges lies in defining the boundary between data that can be shared with third parties and data that, for operational safety reasons, should never leave ADIF’s systems. His conclusion is that these boundaries will be shaped gradually as European regulation evolves, and he does not rule out the possibility of ADIF developing its own railway data space in the future.

Evidence: Turning Data into Clinical Evidence

Pedro Lisbona focused on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation, which entered into force in March 2025 and sets 2029 as the deadline for enabling the secondary use of health data for research purposes. Although that milestone may seem distant, Evidence is already working with hospitals, healthcare systems, and pharmaceutical companies in three key areas: standardizing data using interoperable models such as FHIR and OMOP, strengthening data governance, and transforming data into meaningful clinical evidence.

One of the panel’s most compelling takeaways was this: data alone has no intrinsic value; the real value lies in the evidence generated from it. This European framework will also enable multicenter research studies on a continental scale, replacing the slow and fragmented hospital-by-hospital approach that has traditionally characterized clinical research.

Vitas: Real-World Barriers and Keeping Patients at the Center

Javier Villalón brought the operational perspective of a healthcare network comprising 22 hospitals and 40 medical centers that generate millions of clinical data records every year. He identified several barriers that currently hinder active participation in a health data space: technical challenges (structuring highly heterogeneous data), semantic interoperability (ensuring healthcare professionals use a common language), data quality, organizational issues (defining ownership and responsibility for each dataset), and, above all, cultural change.

Above everything else, however, his message was clear: every decision about what data to share and how to share it should begin with a single question—Does this improve patient care? From there, Vithas defines the intended use, assesses the associated risks, and determines appropriate access levels while always retaining control over its data.

Five Key Lessons for Building a Data Space

To conclude the discussion, Pedro Lisbona summarized the key principles any organization should consider before embarking on its own data space initiative:

1. This is not primarily a technology challenge—it is a matter of trust and governance.
2. Semantic interoperability is essential: without a shared language, meaningful data exchange is impossible.
3. The value lies not in collecting data, but in generating evidence from it.
4. Start with focused, well-defined use cases and scale gradually from there.
5. Design an economically sustainable operating model, because maintaining this infrastructure comes with real costs.

Watch the Full Webinar

These are just some of the insights shared during the session. To explore each case in greater depth—including practical examples such as Vithas’ antimicrobial resistance map and Evidence’s secure data processing environments—we invite you to watch the full webinar recording.