Bridging Policy, Trust and Verifiable Credentials in Gaia-X Data Spaces

As data spaces mature from conceptual frameworks into operational ecosystems, one challenge continues to limit large-scale adoption: how can organisations automatically verify that another participant satisfies access requirements before sharing data, while preserving sovereignty, privacy, and interoperability? A recent research contribution by Gaia-X Lab Tech Lead Yassir SELLAMI, Policy-Driven Data Space Contract Negotiation using the ODRL Verifiable Credential Profile and OpenID4VP, proposes a practical answer. The result is a mechanism that allows data providers to express access requirements as machine-readable policies and enables consumers to automatically prove compliance using credentials stored in digital wallets. Beyond its technical contribution, the work is particularly relevant to Gaia-X because it operationalises several core principles of the Gaia-X Trust Framework: trust, interoperability, verifiability, data sovereignty, and compliance-by-design. This is particularly relevant for Gaia-X Data Exchange initiatives and future Data Usage Agreement implementations, where contractual obligations and policy compliance must be evaluated before data access is granted. It operationalises the principles of sovereignty and interoperability that have guided Gaia-X since its inception and provides a blueprint for future data space implementations in which access decisions are driven not by manual processes but by verifiable evidence and transparent policy evaluation.