COMET: How data sovereignty becomes the basis for innovative smart living services

Dr. Carl, what problem does COMET solve in the smart living market?

There is a lot of data on the smart living market today, but it is often stored in separate systems and by different owners. Some of it is held by device manufacturers, some in individual apps, some in the building itself and some by the users. As a result, many useful applications can only be implemented to a limited extent or not at all; links and interoperability are not limited technically, but organizationally. This is precisely where COMET comes in: we are creating an approach that allows private end users and other individuals, such as employees, to be actively integrated into the SmartLivingNEXT data space in a controlled manner. This creates better conditions for using data responsibly and developing new intelligent services from it.

COMET talks about giving users more control over their data. What does that mean in concrete terms?

Above all, this means that individuals and organizations should not only provide data, but should also be able to understand and decide what happens to their data. COMET therefore pursues a transparent and consent-based approach. Based on individual requests, COMET users can specifically determine which data they want to release for which purposes. This means that the more specific the request, the more COMET users decide whether they want to transfer their data directly to the requesting company for this organization, for this purpose and for a certain period of time, without the ecosystem as such gaining access to the data. This form of data sovereignty is important because it creates trust. And trust is the prerequisite for data to be used sensibly and responsibly in a larger ecosystem in the first place. This is precisely why COMET is developing services such as a data catalog and a consent registry.

What does COMET mean specifically for the electrical industry and other providers in the smart living market?

COMET is particularly interesting for the electrical industry because it can significantly improve access to high-quality, labeled and realistic data. Many companies today have good products, but not the database to build new AI-supported services, service offerings or value-added applications on them. COMET helps to close this gap.

The key point is that data can be provided interoperably across manufacturers and brought into a common, responsibly usable context. This creates new opportunities for companies to develop innovative applications, for example in the areas of energy efficiency, comfort, assistance or operational optimization. This is particularly relevant for SMEs and European providers because it strengthens their ability to innovate and makes them less dependent on data-powerful platform players. Data is not made available in the ecosystem itself, but only between the directly interacting ecosystem players (e.g. users and the requesting company).

Why is it so important to be able to link data from different data owners in a legally secure and GDPR-compliant manner?

Because this is a key lever for the next development stage of smart living. Many useful applications only arise when information from different areas of responsibility can be brought together, for example data from the building envelope, from the technical building equipment and from the individual usage context. For example, apartment owners and residents are the owners of complementary data, as are companies and building owners or companies and employees.

So far, linking data with different owners has often failed in practice not because of the idea, but because of questions of responsibility, consent, transparency and legally compliant implementation. The special added value of COMET therefore does not simply lie in the collection of additional data, but in the possibility of linking data from different data owners in a controlled, traceable and GDPR-compliant manner. This creates the basis for applications that make technical sense and are also legally compliant. The transparency and consent system required for this is a core component of the COMET approach.

Can you give an example where this link creates real added value?

A good example is the combination of building-related data with information from the direct living and usage context. In a rented property, it may make sense to combine data from the building envelope or from technical systems with user data (e.g. from tenants or employees of a company and the renting company itself) or certain consumption information, provided this is necessary for a specific application and the corresponding consent has been obtained.

Only then can certain services be developed more precisely, for example to save energy, improve comfort or detect anomalies in operation. The decisive factor is that such applications do not simply need more data, but the appropriate, legitimate and traceable combination of data – usually from different sources and across organizational and ownership boundaries. This is precisely where COMET comes in.

How does COMET ensure that the use of data does not lead to a loss of control, but to trust?

Trust is created above all when data use is organized transparently, comprehensibly and for a specific purpose. COMET therefore does not rely on opaque data collection and uncontrolled data sharing, but on an architecture in which individual actors (e.g. companies, users, employees) can manage and release their data in a targeted manner. Tools such as the Consent Registry and other services for structured data provision help to make these processes controllable and traceable in the long term.

It is also important that the quality and processability of the data is improved for the participants in the ecosystem without giving up the data sovereignty of the data owners. COMET thus combines two things that are often played off against each other: high usability for innovative services and at the same time clear governance for the handling of data, as data is specifically shared between individual players.

What prospects does COMET open up for the future of smart living in Germany and Europe?

COMET shows that innovation, data sovereignty and European values are not mutually exclusive, but can be productively combined. If private end users, organizations and their employees can be meaningfully integrated into a data space while ensuring interoperability, transparency and control, then a completely new basis for digital services in the building sector and for sovereign data exchange between individual members of the ecosystem will emerge.

This is not only interesting for individual applications, but also for the further development of the entire smart living ecosystem. Companies gain access to usable data for new services, users retain control and the data space as a whole gains in attractiveness and reach. This represents a strategic opportunity for Germany and Europe in particular, as it allows digital value creation to be built on an open and responsible basis.