Gradiant leads the European TRUSTED project to strengthen data protection protocols
The Technology Center will apply innovative techniques to protect our confidential data, such as the use of zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic cryptography, which will bring benefits to both individuals and organizations.
Gradiant assumes an essential role in TRUSTED, coordinating this European alliance and leading the development of technologies that guarantee the security and privacy of digital identity, driving an ecosystem that promotes trust in data exchange under the new paradigm of European data spaces.
Gradiant leads TRUSTED (Enabling Trustworthy European Data Spaces through Self-Sovereign Identity and Privacy Preserving Technologies), focused on strengthening data protection protocols, in which it assumes a key role in the development of technologies that ensure the security and privacy of digital identity, promoting an ecosystem that promotes trust in data exchange.
Gradiant will also implement innovative protection techniques, such as homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs, which will allow us to use and share data without compromising privacy, preventing third parties from accessing the most sensitive information without our consent. These techniques will further strengthen the protection of personal data and the implementation of privacy practices that benefit both individuals and organizations.
Precisely this morning the kick-off meeting of this research has taken place in Vigo, which seeks to establish a reliable and secure framework for access to data spaces, allowing the creation of a trustworthy ecosystem for the exchange of data and knowledge. This ecosystem is built through federated learning, a strategy that allows different entities to collaborate in the creation of artificial intelligence models without compromising data privacy. To achieve this, TRUSTED is structured in three interrelated technological blocks: decentralized digital identity, privacy-enhancing techniques and data spaces, with the purpose of generating services that strengthen security and trust in the digital environment and data spaces.
Luis Pérez Freire, Executive Director of Gradiant, highlights that “TRUSTED is a response to the growing security demands in the digital environment. Our mission is to develop solutions that allow users and organizations to extract the maximum potential from data with privacy guarantees, under the new paradigm of European data spaces. To do so, it is essential to develop tools that allow us, on the one hand, to use and share our data without compromising privacy and, on the other hand, to always have control over it.” He adds: “Thanks to federated learning, we will be able to train an artificial intelligence model using data from different entities, such as hospitals, without these data ever having to leave the infrastructure of the entities. The challenge is to find an optimal balance between privacy, model accuracy and the time needed to train the model.”
TRUSTED is positioned as a benchmark in the research and development of digital identity technologies, contributing to the creation of a more secure environment for the exchange of confidential data and the formation of federated learning networks. The consortium working in TRUSTED is composed of 10 entities from 5 countries that allows this initiative to draw on diverse perspectives and skills, strengthening its potential for market impact. The TRUSTED partners are: Gradiant (leader), Tree Technology, Fundación Cibervoluntarios (Spain); Infocert SPA, Cybersocial Lab (Italy); Fraunhofer (through two different departments: AISEC and ISST) (Germany); Promptly, Centro Hospitalar Universitario de Coimbra (Portugal); Sestek (Turkey); and Fondazione Mondo Digitale (associated entity).
With almost 4 million euros in funding under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, TRUSTED also involves a multidisciplinary team of technology, privacy and security experts working in close collaboration to achieve its objectives. The project started on 1 October and already marks a milestone in European cybersecurity, paving the way for a future where security and trust are fundamental pillars of data exchange.
About Gradiant
Gradiant is a Research and Technology Organization (RTO) focused on connectivity, intelligence and security technologies. Gradiant is an innovation provider, with over 10 years of experience in technology incubation and more than 230 professionals, Gradiant has a footprint in 30 countries and over 400 customers.
In recent years, Gradiant has quintupled the license agreements of its innovation projects in the last two years, which already reach 150 licenses in 18 countries. Some recent public international references include Telefónica, Vodafone, Samsung, Stellantis, NATO, Indra, NTT Data, Avincis, and Boeing.
TRUSTED project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under agreement no. 101168467.
