Gaia-X Conceptual Model

The Gaia-X conceptual model, shown in the figure below, describes all concepts in the scope of Gaia-X and their relation to each other. Supplementary, more detailed models may be created in the future to specify further aspects. The general interaction pattern is further depicted in section [Basic Interactions of Participants].

The Gaia-X core concepts are represented in classes. An entity highlighted in blue shows that an element is part of Gaia-X and therefore described by a Gaia-X Self-Description. The upper part of the model shows different actors of Gaia-X, while the lower part shows elements of commercial trade and the relationship to actors outside Gaia-X.

Gaia-X conceptual model

Participants

A Participant is an entity, as defined in ISO/IEC 24760-1 as “item relevant for the purpose of operation of a domain that has recognizably distinct existence”¹, which is onboarded and has a Gaia-X Self-Description. A Participant can take on one or multiple of the following roles: Provider, Consumer, Federator. Section [Federation Services] demonstrates use cases that illustrate how these roles could be filled. Provider and Consumer present the core roles that are in a business-to-business relationship while the Federator enables their interaction.

Provider

A Provider is a Participant who provides Assets and Resources in the Gaia-X Ecosystem. It defines the Service Offering including terms and conditions as well as technical Policies. Further, it provides the Service Instance that includes a Self-Description and technical Policies. Therefore, the Provider operates different Resources and possesses different Assets.

Federator

Federators are in charge of the Federation Services and the Federation which are autonomous of each other. Federators are Gaia-X Participants. There can be one or more Federators per type of Federation Service.

A Federation refers to a loose set of interacting actors that directly or indirectly consume, produce, or provide Assets and related Resources.

Consumer

A Consumer is a Participant who searches Service Offerings and consumes Service Instances in the Gaia-X Ecosystem to enable digital offerings for End-Users.

Resources and Assets

Resources and Assets describe in general the goods and objects of a Gaia-X Ecosystem and are defined as follows. Resources and Assets compose the Service Offering.

Assets

An Asset is an element which does not expose an Endpoint and is used to compose the Service Offering. An Endpoint is defined according to ISO ISO/TR 24097-3:2019(en) as a combination of a binding a network address². An Asset can be a Data Asset, a Software Asset, a Node or an Interconnection Asset. A set of Policies is tied to each Asset. The different categories of Assets are visualized in Figure 3 and defined below:

A Data Asset is an Asset that consist of data in any form and necessary information for data sharing.

A Node is an Asset and represents a computational or physical entity that hosts, manipulates, or interacts with other computational or physical entities.

A Software Asset is a form of Assets that consist of non-physical functions.

An Interconnection is an Asset that presents the connection between two or multiple Nodes.

Resources

Resources expose an Endpoint and compose a Service Offering. They are bound to certain Policies.

The difference between Resources and Assets can be described as follows: Resources represent those elements necessary to supply Assets. They can be explained as internal Service Instances not available for order. For example, the running instance that provides a data set is a Resource.

Policies

Policies in a technical sense are defined as statements, rules or assertions that specify the correct or expected behaviour of an entity³.

A Policy can be either a Provider Policy (alias Usage Policies) or a Consumer Policy. A Provider Policy constraints the Consumer’s use of an Asset or Resource. In contrast to a Consumer Policy, which is a Policy that describes a Consumer’s restrictions of a requested Asset or Resource⁴. In the conceptual model, they appear as attributes in all elements related to Assets and Resources.

In the legal or organizational sense, Policy is defined as a statement of objectives, rules, practices, or regulations governing the activities of Participants within Gaia-X. They build the Policy Rules, which are central element of the Gaia-X Compliance Framework and the Gaia-X Federation Services Compliance.

Federation Services

Federation Services are services required for the operational implementation of a Gaia-X Data Ecosystem. They are explained in greater detail in the Federation Service section.

They comprise four groups of services that are necessary to enable Federation of Assets, Resources, Participants and interactions between Ecosystems. The four service groups are Identity and Trust, Federated Catalogue, Sovereign Data Exchange and Compliance.

Service Offering

A Service Offering is defined as a set of Assets and Resources, which a Provider bundles into an offering and lists in a Catalogue. To realize service composition, a Service Offering can be nested with one or more other Service Offerings. The Federation Services provide the foundation for Service Offerings and the Service Offering uses and conforms to the Federation Services.

Additional Concepts

In addition to those concepts and their relations mentioned above, further ones exist in the conceptual model that are not directly governed by Gaia-X. These concepts do not need to undergo any procedures directly related to Gaia-X, e.g. do not create or maintain a Gaia-X Self-Description.

First, the Service Instance realizes a Service Offering and can be used by End-Users while relying on a contractual basis.

Second, Contracts are not in scope of Gaia-X but present the legal basis for the Services Instances and include specified Policies. Contract means the binding legal agreement describing a Service Instance and includes all rights and obligations. This comes in addition to the automated digital rights management embedded in every entity’s self-description.

Further relevant actors exist outside of the Gaia-X scope in terms of End-Users and Asset Owners.

Asset Owners, e.g. data owners, describe a natural or legal person, which holds the rights of an Asset that will be provided according to Gaia-X regulations by a Provider and legally enable its provision.

End-Users use digital offerings of a Gaia-X Consumer that are enabled by Gaia-X. The End-User uses the Service Instances containing Self-Description and Policies.