Connecting Data Spaces, a practical approach using the Sovity Connector

This paper presents a practical approach developed within the Green.Dat.AI Horizon Europe project to enable interoperability between independently operated data spaces using the Sovity Connector and open-source components. While data spaces are increasingly adopted across sectors, interoperability remains limited due to differing governance and identity management infrastructures. The work demonstrates secure, end-to-end data exchange between two data spaces, each retaining its own identity provider (DAPS). Interoperability is achieved through the integration of a federated identity component originating from the DISCO Horizon Europe project, allowing cross-data space interaction without connector migration or loss of data sovereignty. The results show that practical data space federation is feasible today using existing open-source tools, offering a scalable path towards interoperable European data ecosystems.