The Industrial Data Space is an initiative funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to "facilitate the secure exchange and easy linkage of data in business ecosystems." Organizations including Pricewaterhouse Coopers AG, Allainz SE, and Volkswagen AG participate. The effort is organized into two parts. The first is a pre-competitive research project in which the partners test architecture to facilitate data sharing. Data sharing must abide by outlined standards pertaining to data sovereignty, decentralized management, and trust. The second is a user association wherein members "identify, analyze, and evaluate the requirements of user companies to be met by the Industrial Data Space."