Data Week is a spring event that brings together the Data and AI research community to share insights, build collaborations, and explore new challenges. Data Week also links the communities and their results to the European policies and market needs, and brings European initiatives and activities closer to local communities.
Organised by BDVA, Data Week 2025 focused on creating data value, with AI as a key enabler. Under the theme “Odyssey of AI: Navigating the Data Seas,” the event highlighted the need for ecosystem collaboration to turn research into real-world impact and drive both competitiveness and societal progress.
The 2-day physical event took place in Athens, Greece, between 27-28 May, organized by the Big Data Value Association, hosted by Cosmote – OTE and in collaboration with the following BDVA members: Athens Technology Center S.A. (ATC), Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), CORE Innovation Center, Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications – National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, FORTH and Neuropublic.
The MANOLO project gave the present in at least three sessions:
1st. “Ariadne’s Thread: Weaving Stronger Networks for Trustworthy AI”
Like the golden thread Ariadne offered Theseus to navigate Daedalus’s labyrinth, this workshop offers a practical entry point to the maze of responsible AI development. As Europe advances the AI Continent Action Plan, the labyrinth deepens. More layers—technical, legal, societal—are added. That’s why we must interweave principles, practices, infrastructures, and communities.
This interactive workshop explored how diverse European networks are transforming the principles of Trustworthy AI into practical tools and outcomes. Focusing especially on SMEs and their journey through AI adoption and compliance, it highlighted collaborative models that align with the EU AI Act while maximising both societal value and business competitiveness.
Workshop Objectives:
- Share real-world experiences and tools for implementing Trustworthy AI
- Highlight value created by cross-European networks
- Foster interactions among diverse stakeholders
- Enable cross-sector partnerships and knowledge exchange
- Identify unmet needs and emerging opportunities within the ecosystem
Speakers from MANOLO’s consortium:
EIT AI Community: Orestis Trasanidis (EIT Digital)
Z-Inspection®: Apostolos Tsolakis (Q-Plan)
EDIH and i-Spaces: Julia Palma (CeADAR)
Others: Confiance.ai: Nicolas Rebierre (IRT SystemX)
EUSAiR AI Regulatory Sandboxes and AI Factories: Antonino Rotolo (UNIBO)
Trustworthy AI Cluster: Davide Dalle Carbonare (Engineering/TALON)
European Commission and AI Office: Livio Rubino (DG-CNECT)
etami: Gabriel G. Castañe (BDVA)
Learn more here: https://data-week.eu/session/ai-ethics-1/
2nd. “Boosting the European Data Economy through BDVA i-Spaces”
The session emphasized the importance of having reliable entities, like the i-Spaces, that provide comprehensive support to companies at the time to obtain value from data and how to navigate through the complex AI landscape.
Objectives of the session
- Demonstrate the value of i-Spaces in the European Data Economy as secure experimentation hubs.
- Explain the role of i-Spaces in attracting end-users and defining use cases for AI Factories and Regulatory Sandboxes.
- Present the federation of i-Spaces as a coordinated European coverage structure. Session’s Outline
During the workshop, ‘Role of i-Spaces in AI Factories and Regulatory Sandboxes,’ our partner, Julia Palma from CeADAR | Ireland’s Centre for AI, led the discussion with the following question: What can the i-Spaces do for Regulatory Sandboxes?
Read more here: https://data-week.eu/session/i-spaces/
Also, Julia was a speaker at the session “Navigating Challenges and Pioneering Strategies for Data Sharing, Integration and Optimisation and for leveraging Data Spaces” session. This workshop explored the variety of user and stakeholder profiles that can benefit from data sharing and Data Space initiatives. It examined the added value and needs identified across different domains by participating projects. Discussions focused on how bird-of-a-feather projects addressed these needs to align with the evolving real-world landscape and build a community of practice. Participants identified barriers to delivering value and shared innovative solutions, fostering idea generation and knowledge exchange through various methodologies and tools.
3rd. “Synthetic data: legal, ethical and technical implications”
This interactive workshop aimed to explore and discuss the legal, ethical and technical implications raised by the creation and use of synthetic data, including a keynote presentation of BDVA Healthcare TF.
Special attention was given in seeking a careful balance between, on the one hand, the synthetic data generation, leveraging the benefits of domain knowledge and real-world dataset examples, and on the other hand, respecting the confidentiality and privacy of individual and upholding European values
This workshop invited and engaged many participants, as this is part of the activities of HELEN (Horizon Europe Legal and Ethics Network. Among others, at the interactive panel of this session, Argyro Amidi and Alexandros Kalafatelis, representing Four Dot Infinity (MANOLO’s Partner), led this discussion with participants.
We are glad to have experienced such insightful sessions, engaging discussions, and valuable knowledge sharing. We look forward to continuing our journey toward advancing AI! Stay tuned.
