Data Ethics: Privacy, Trust and Sovereignty in Data Spaces

In today’s digital world, data are as valuable a resource as water or energy. They enable us to train AI models, improve public services, develop new business solutions, and open up opportunities for innovation. Yet one essential condition must be met: data must be managed ethically and responsibly.

In the Zamora Smart Data Space, ethics is not an afterthought—it is a central pillar. The project includes the creation of a specialised laboratory where different data management platforms (both commercial and open-source) are tested, secure solutions are designed for storing and processing large volumes of information, and privacy and ethical protocols are applied from the outset.

The Zamora Smart Data Space is not being developed in isolation—it is grounded in a European and Spanish legal framework that places people and their rights at the heart of technological innovation.

• GDPR (2016) and LOPDGDD (2018): These regulations form the foundation of data protection in Europe and Spain. They establish fundamental rights such as data access, portability, rectification and the “right to be forgotten”. They also require organisations to implement technical and organisational measures ensuring privacy by design—that is, from the very moment data systems are created. For the Zamora Data Space, this means all projects and platforms integrate privacy as a basic principle, ensuring that personal data are never misused.
• Data Governance Act (2022) and Data Act (2023): These European laws promote secure and responsible data sharing across sectors and countries. The Data Governance Act strengthens trust and transparency mechanisms, while the Data Act regulates the access to and use of data generated, for example, by connected devices or industrial systems. Thanks to these regulations, the Zamora laboratory can share and analyse information collaboratively without compromising data sovereignty or the rights of data generators.
• AI Act (2024): For the first time in the world, a law provides comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence. Its goal is to ensure that AI systems are safe, transparent, and human-centred, preventing risks such as discrimination, bias, or misuse of data. For the Zamora project, this means that all generative AI and federated learning models are designed and evaluated under strict ethical standards, guaranteeing trust and accountability in every experiment or prototype.

This robust regulatory framework ensures that the Zamora Data Space is not only technologically advanced but also trustworthy and sustainable in the long term—establishing it as a European benchmark for ethical and responsible management of AI and data.

Applied Ethics: Much More Than Compliance

The Zamora laboratory focuses on three key areas:

1. Privacy

- Application of techniques such as anonymisation and federated learning, allowing AI models to be trained without moving data from their original source.

- Ensuring that personal information is never used without explicit consent.

2. Data Sovereignty

- Every user, institution or business retains control over how, with whom, and for what purpose their data are shared.

- Technology is designed to reinforce this right—not to restrict it.

3. Trust

- Audits and performance metrics to validate the proper use of data.

- Integration of ethical protocols and certifications to ensure transparency.

- Technologies such as blockchain to provide traceability and security.

Ethics also means collaboration with responsibility. In Zamora, researchers, businesses and public administrations work together in this laboratory, validating prototypes and real use cases. This ensures that technology responds to the concrete needs of key regional sectors—such as agriculture, energy, or services—while upholding the highest standards of privacy and fairness.

Thanks to this approach, Zamora is becoming a leading example of ethics and data governance in Europe. The Smart Data Space not only drives technological innovation but does so guided by clear values: respect for privacy, transparency in data use, trust among all actors, and knowledge transfer across universities, public administrations and local enterprises.

In a world where data are regarded as the “new gold”, ethics acts as the compass that prevents misuse and ensures that their value translates into genuine benefits for society. Zamora is on course to demonstrate that it is possible to lead technological innovation without ever losing sight of what matters most: people and their rights.