The deployEMDS General Assembly in Lisbon marked an inspiring milestone for the project as partners, cities, technical experts, and representatives from the European Commission came together to align on a shared ambition for the final year of the initiative.

Over two dynamic days, collaboration took centre stage, translating shared vision into tangible progress toward a sustainable, federated mobility data space across Europe.

Setting the Direction

Day 1 opened with focused internal sessions refining the development roadmap with technical partners and exploring new ways to communicate the value and impact of deployEMDS.

An engaging opening session and panel with the European Commission set the tone for the discussions ahead. Together, participants explored how deployEMDS bridges the European vision for mobility data with the realities of local implementation, and how the project’s impact can be sustained well beyond its lifetime.

The afternoon brought an energetic peer exchange fair, where partners shared lessons learned from implementation sites, followed by a strategic Advisory Board meeting offering guidance on governance and priorities for the year ahead.

The day concluded with an inspiring visit to Lisbon’s TML – Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa control room, where one of the project’s use cases is helping to improve bus service reliability through real-time data integration.

Turning collaboration into progress

Day 2 focused on deepening collaboration across technical, governance, and practical dimensions. In transversal use case sessions, partners validated concepts, aligned ambitions, and explored next steps for the project’s second phase. Parallel sessions advanced governance framework design and hosted a technical workshop on the Interlinking Layer, featuring an open exchange with the European Commission on integration and future onboarding.

In the afternoon, live demos showcased progress on the deployEMDS infrastructure (including data connectors, the Tampere use case, and the federated catalogue), helping identify clear next steps and shared priorities for the coming months.

The closing session offered space to reflect on achievements, gather partner feedback, and reaffirm the collective vision for a European mobility data space that connects cities, regions, and services seamlessly.

The General Assembly concluded with more on-site visits across Lisbon – from EMEL’s pedestrian infrastructure projects designed to support accessibility, to TML’s advanced control room improving public transport operations through real-time data.

Each visit reinforced the core deployEMDS mission: connecting people, technology, and governance to create interoperable, data-driven mobility solutions that serve citizens and cities alike.

Looking Ahead

As deployEMDS enters its final year, the meeting in Lisbon sets a strong foundation for the work ahead. Partners and stakeholders remain united in their commitment to scaling impact, ensuring interoperability, and shaping the future of Europe’s mobility data ecosystem.

A sincere thank you to all partners and European Commission representatives for two days of insight, collaboration, and shared ambition. The path forward is clear, and deployEMDS is moving ahead together.

On September 4th, the deployEMDS and DEPLOYTOUR teams hosted an engaging webinar exploring the synergies between tourism and mobility data spaces. The session brought together experts, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss how data sharing can enhance both sectors and contribute to smarter, more sustainable travel across Europe. 

Opening the session, Kristóf Almásy, Policy Officer at the Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) emphasised the European Commission’s strategic priority of unlocking data’s potential in key sectors. “The cross-sectoral interoperability has always been at the core of this strategy,” he stated, noting that while the initial focus was on creating the infrastructure and governance, the next phase is “really about creating value and scaling up these ecosystems.” 

He stressed that success would be measured by the ability to achieve real impact, notably by supporting the adoption of artificial intelligence and improving public policies and new business opportunities in both tourism and mobility. 

Dolores Ordóñez, Director of AnySolution and coordinator of DEPLOYTOUR, introduced the European Tourism Data Space project. She highlighted the natural “transversal” connection between tourism and mobility, especially given that tourism is now under the same Directorate-General (DG MOVE) as transport. A key challenge is the complexity of the tourism ecosystem, which involves various actors from national ministries to multinational companies, all interacting with multiple data spaces (like the common European mobility data space and the common European data space for cultural heritage).  

Christopher Newman, coordinator of deployEMDS, and Morgan Siegel then presented deployEMDS. One key goal is to develop a federated metadata catalog, making mobility data discoverable and enabling cities and service providers to leverage it for sustainable transport solutions. 

The webinar then moved to showcase practical examples of how the synergy between the two data spaces is becoming real. 

Clémence Castell, Strategic partnerships manager at Instant System presented a deployEMDS use case focused on reducing commuting challenges for large employers in the Île-de-France region. The objective is to encourage multi-modality and reduce the reliance on cars by creating a data product from a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) application called Emmy. 

A key component of the use case involves integrating electric vehicle (EV) charging station data into the MaaS journey planner. Clémence Castell highlighted that an analysis confirmed EV uptake accelerates significantly when charging is available in combination with public transport. 

Looking ahead, the Instant System team sees a clear opportunity for synergy with the tourism data space: 

• Smart charging with local experiences: Linking EV charging time to nearby touristic activities (restaurants, museums, shops), effectively turning a necessary delay into a valuable part of the traveller’s journey and boosting the local tourism economy. 

• MaaS as a travel companion: Transforming the mobility app to allow tourists to search for experiences (e.g., “family-friendly attractions”) rather than just addresses, automatically calculating the optimal multi-modal travel route to promote public and soft mobility over car use. 

Subsequently, Jonathan Huffstutler, Marketing Director at  EONA-X, presented a DEPLOYTOUR pilot focusing on Meetings, Incentives, Congresses, and Events (MICE) tourism in the Paris area. 

The core challenge for the region is moving beyond simply attracting high numbers of visitors to attracting visitors who contribute to a higher economic impact while reducing the environmental footprint. France’s national objective has shifted from reaching 100 million visitors to achieving $100 billion euros in economic impact by 2030. 

Currently, strategies to drive MICE tourism are impeded by fragmented data, making it difficult to measure economic and environmental impact. Event organisers, venues, and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) all hold separate pieces of valuable information. The goal of this DEPLOYTOUR pilot is to use the data space approach to harmonise and share this data, enabling stakeholders to: 

• Gain a fresh, reliable understanding of the MICE segment’s true impact. 

• Develop evidence-based policies and personalised services that can boost business and extend stays. 

The discussion emphasised the transformative potential of combining mobility and tourism data. By breaking silos and enhancing discoverability, data spaces can improve the travel experience, support sustainable mobility, and benefit both temporary visitors and local communities. Attendees concluded that while technical and governance challenges remain, the collaborative frameworks established by these projects are laying the foundation for a more connected, efficient, and data-driven European travel ecosystem.