Obstacles to Data Sharing – An Outline of Recent Developments with Policy Recommendations

Despite its great advantages, data sharing is still not widely practised by German business due to a number of major obstacles, primarily of a legal nature. Survey data collected from German manufacturers and providers of manufacturing-related services between autumn 2021 and the fall of 2023 show that 67 per cent of German firms see themselves confronted with legal barriers to data sharing. Yet while legal obstacles have remained at a consistently high level since 2021, organisational, technical and economic hurdles have actually increased. Firms’ size and their ability to manage data efficiently, generally described as ‘data economy readiness’, actually exacerbate these obstacles, since involvement in data sharing only heightens awareness of the difficulties. This suggests that such hurdles cannot be overcome without the willingness of policymakers to provide organisational structure and support. The present article therefore offers policy recommendations on the formulation of contracts and assistance with data sharing with the aim of allaying concerns about data protection, legal liability and unauthorised access to data by third parties. Implementation of these recommendations would promote data sharing and encourage exploitation of the potential advantages for the German economy.