EU Data Regulation Is Quietly Changing Who Controls Industrial Machine Data | SPONSORED
Why access to machine data is becoming a strategic issue
For years, many manufacturers operated with limited access to the data generated by their own machines. Interfaces were proprietary, extraction was restricted, and meaningful reuse often required additional contracts or fees. This shaped how digital initiatives evolved—and, in many cases, why they stalled.
EU data regulation is now altering that balance. Beyond privacy and compliance, newer rules directly address who has the right to access and use industrial data, including data generated by machines in operation. For manufacturers, this represents a structural shift rather than a legal detail.
Regulation as a reset of power dynamics
What is changing is not only compliance obligations, but negotiating leverage. Regulations increasingly clarify that companies operating or purchasing machines are entitled to access the data that those machines produce. This redefines relationships between manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and digital service providers.
As a result, data access is no longer solely a commercial concession. It is becoming an expectation embedded in the regulatory environment. For manufacturers, this reduces dependency on closed ecosystems and lowers barriers to launching analytics, optimization, and data-driven services.
Why regulation is often misunderstood internally
One of the most consistent obstacles is not the regulation itself, but how it is interpreted inside organizations. Legal and compliance teams frequently default to the most restrictive reading, even when the rules allow more flexibility.
This leads to hesitation or early shutdown of initiatives based on assumed limitations rather than actual constraints. In practice, many regulatory frameworks distinguish clearly between consumer data and industrial operational data—yet this distinction is often blurred in internal discussions.
Understanding where flexibility exists is becoming a competitive capability.
Regulation forces long-overdue data clarity
A less visible effect of EU data regulation is the pressure it applies internally. Manufacturers are required to answer questions that were previously postponed:
- What data is generated by our machines?
- Where is it stored and processed?
- Who is entitled to access it?
- Under what conditions can it be shared?
Answering these questions improves internal structure, even before any external data sharing occurs. Regulation, in this sense, acts as a catalyst for better data discipline and transparency.
Why waiting for perfect certainty is risky
Regulatory frameworks evolve, guidance matures, and interpretations are refined over time. Manufacturers that wait for absolute clarity before acting risk falling behind those who engage early and adapt as rules stabilize.
Progress does not require ignoring regulation. It requires working with it—through industry groups, dialogue with regulators, and practical experimentation within defined boundaries. Digital transformation and regulation are moving in parallel, not in sequence.
A different way to view EU data rules
Rather than treating regulation as an external constraint, manufacturers can view it as an enabler:
- enabling clearer access rights to machine data,
- encouraging more transparent vendor relationships,
- and supporting fairer data ecosystems.
The main question is not how to avoid regulation, but how to use it to regain control over industrial data and accelerate digital value creation.
Sponsored by Cybus
This article reflects insights from an IIoT World Manufacturing Day discussion on data sovereignty and industrial data access, sponsored by Cybus.
Contributors to the session included Peter Sorowka (Cybus), Marc Jäckle (MaibornWolff), Martin May (SCHUNK), Aleksandar Hudic (Schwarz Digits), with moderation by Lara Ludwigs (Cybus).