The logos for SAGE + Forest Data Space + hale»connect set against a light green background, followed by the text

SAGE + Forest Data Space + hale»connect = The Combo that Makes the Green Deal Data Space Work

General Interest News Projects conferences Data Accessibility Data Harmonisation Data Spaces Environmental Data Events hale»connect Interoperability Projects Strategy
Thorsten Reitz
Thorsten Reitz
18 May 2026

In early May, I travelled to Oslo for the BVDA Data Week and the SAGE General Assembly. While the initial consolidation phase was not without its challenges, the project to build the Green Deal Data Space (GDDS) is now making good progress on several fronts.

Group photograph of 45 participants of the SAGE General Assembly in Oslo, Norway, on May 7th 2026. They are gathered in a semi-circle in front of the SINTEF building, smiling at the camera on a sunny day.

To me, now seems to be the right time to write about what wetransform’s role in the GDDS implementation is, where we want to take it, and what still needs to happen for data spaces to be established as a defining part of digital infrastructure in the coming years.

SAGE - The Data Space for a Sustainable Green Europe. An infographic centres a laptop with the SAGE logo. 4 icons for Biodiversity, Climate Adaptation, Circular Economy, and Zero Pollution connect from the top. From the left, "Sources of Data" come in, the right leads to "Use Cases" Underneath are 3 small headings: "Proven Technology Stack & Architecture: Integrate grow frameworks; Link to governance and trust frameworks","Sensitive and Public Data: Combine sensitive restricted, open and public data through semantic interoperability mechanisms", "Proof-of-Concept Platform: Validate by pilot use cases; Supporting new use cases" At the bottom: "The project and related operating and governance entities will continue to operate after the project finishes in early 2028" Right of the graph: "SAGE is a Digital Europe co-funded project that will develop a federated, secure, and interoperable data space to support the key pillars of the European Green Deal." and the wetransform logo.

Our Contributions

wetransform contributes to most major work packages of SAGE. Our main work areas are:

Architecture

Within this activity, led by CREAF, we define the architecture of the GDDS. This includes functional components, interfaces, formats, and protocols across control and data planes. The architecture includes so-called core services such as registers and identity management, but also covers so-called value-added services, e.g. for data analytics or data onboarding.

wetransform brings substantial expertise with the integration of GIS and SDI architectures with data spaces into the work package. As an example, we have already built an architecture that allows to use connectors transparently with current-generation OGC APIs.

Value-Added Services

wetransform heads up the task to define and integrate Value-Added Services within the GDDS. As experts for data integration and harmonisation, we will also provide our own data onboarding value added service, called hale»agent.

hale»agent will offer an AI-assisted, semi-automated process to bring data into a data space that reduces efforts for data integration dramatically and makes data harmonisation far more accessible to domain experts. This service will work for any structured environmental and spatial data, not just for the Forestry Domain.

Another Value-Added Service we also aim to integrate with SAGE is a ready-to-use, fully compliant data trustee/intermediary that can easily contribute data assets into any data space or data sharing group. This data trustee builds on our well-established hale»connect platform.

Use Cases

The very first use case that was defined for SAGE was UC1, the “Forest Transformation” use case. Together with our partner Rockwood Digital Europe (RDE), we are now extending the Forest Data Space from Germany to cover all of the European Union by integrating – step-by-step – with the GDDS. In a first step, we will make so-called disturbance data and alerts available within the GDDS ecosystem.

At wetransform, we focus on our core competencies – efficient operations, effective data harmonisation, and innovative uses of underutilised data. However, we can’t do everything. SAGE gives us the opportunity to benefit from first class solutions for a wide range of components that are key to a working data space, such as a central trust infrastructure, a shop and payment system, and an observability component for all transactions.

We also expect to be able to re-use data assets that are going to be part of SAGE/GDDS. Climate data, soil data, and forest inventories are key for the Forestry Domain, and all three will become part of the GDDS over the next years.

In Conclusion

wetransform’s mission is to transform the way data is shared, accessed, and used for the common good by building open data ecosystems. In doing so, we wish to improve the societal impact of data, empowering individuals and organisations to make sustainable and future-oriented decisions.

SAGE will establish a fully operational Green Deal Data Space to enhance the accessibility, integration, and utilisation of environmental data across the EU, which makes the project a perfect fit. It allows us to contribute the things we are best at, whilst enjoying the peace of mind one gets from working with best-in-class partners for the other aspects of this mighty endeavour.

We are fully committed to making the Green Deal Data Space a real and effective open, digital ecosystem.

Want to know more about SAGE and how we are building the GDDS? Reach out to us!