The Open Data Institute and SAP are launching the IDEA program, which stands for Interchange for Data and Enterprise AI. It aims to help organizations make their data infrastructure AI-ready. Through research, independent governance, and a broad community, both parties intend to develop open standards.
With this initiative, the two parties aim to address a key challenge. Many companies possess data primarily designed for human use: transactions, reports, and compliance. That data is not automatically suitable for AI applications. AI systems that operate with inadequately prepared data are more likely to produce unreliable results. Compliance issues also loom large.
Three pillars for AI-ready data
The collaboration consists of three components. First, ODI and SAP are establishing an independent governance model, with ODI building on fourteen years of experience with public-private partnerships. Second, they are conducting research into how CIOs and CDOs can make their data infrastructure AI-ready for classical machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI, in combination with approaches such as data mesh, data fabric, and data products.
The third component is a broad community of SAP customers, partners, policymakers, and scientists. This community is intended to share best practices and contribute to open standards for enterprise data. Additionally, ODI and SAP aim to collaborate with other parties to develop an open blueprint for enterprise data that connects to various systems and data sources, extending beyond the boundaries of a single vendor.
During the project, ODI and SAP will establish a program board to oversee research priorities and guide the research. The collaboration is open to additional involvement and funding from the market and other sectors.