The SYNTACTIC project, part of the Horizon Europe programme, is on a mission to make synthetic data a reliable, compliant and secure resource for European AI. Training and testing AI systems requires large volumes of high-quality data, yet real-world data is often scarce, biased or restricted by privacy and regulatory constraints. SYNTACTIC addresses these challenges by building a European one-stop-shop platform that orchestrates the generation, validation, governance and sharing of synthetic data, with regulatory compliance built in from the start. XLAB leads the work on securing the platform and connecting it to European Data Spaces.
A Platform for the Full Synthetic Data Lifecycle
SYNTACTIC is developing a platform that covers the entire synthetic data lifecycle, from generation to secure exchange. Synthetic datasets are benchmarked against real-world data for representativeness and fairness, managed under FAIR principles with full provenance tracking, and checked automatically against EU regulations. The platform connects to European Data Spaces, Regulatory Sandboxes and the AI-on-Demand platform, enabling federated and privacy-preserving data sharing.
The platform is organised into six layers:
- Synthetic Data Generation ToolBox
- Regulatory Auditing and Management ToolBox
- Data Lifecycle Management
- Cybersecurity ToolBox
- Interoperability Gateway
- Unified User Interface and Knowledge Hub
To demonstrate its impact, SYNTACTIC validates the platform in six pilots: telecommunications (O-RAN), maritime, Green Deal, finance, aerospace (IRIS²) and health. The project brings together 25 partners from 13 countries, coordinated by NTT DATA Spain, and runs from July 2026 to June 2029.
XLAB’s Role in SYNTACTIC
XLAB brings its experience in automation, cybersecurity and data spaces to the project. Our work focuses on:
Our work focuses on:
- Leading the development of the Cybersecurity ToolBox, which protects the platform from deployment to runtime.
- Leading the Interoperability Gateway, which connects SYNTACTIC to European Data Spaces.
- Contributing to regulatory compliance and data quality, including the Data Compliance Engine, Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) generation and synthetic data quality validation.
- Supporting the health pilot with data privacy expertise and anonymised data generation.
Cybersecurity ToolBox: Spotter and LOMOS
The Cybersecurity ToolBox protects the platform with DevSecOps, identity and access management, threat intelligence, anomaly detection and incident reporting. At its core are two proven XLAB technologies. Steampunk Spotter, XLAB’s enterprise-ready tool for secure automation, together with the open-source IaC Scan Runner, forms the core of the DevSecOps pipeline. It checks Infrastructure-as-Code for security and compliance issues before deployment. LOMOS, XLAB’s AI-based runtime anomaly detection system, learns from system logs and metrics and flags unusual behaviour that may indicate a security threat. Together, they give SYNTACTIC a secure foundation from deployment to runtime.
Interoperability Gateway: Automatic Data Space Connector and Boot-X
Synthetic data creates value only when it can be shared safely. XLAB builds the Automatic Data Space Connector on the Eclipse Dataspace Components (EDC) and its project-specific implementation in Boot-X (Data Space-as-a-Service solution). The Interoperability Gateway automates the deployment and configuration of different data space connectors, so SYNTACTIC users can publish and exchange synthetic datasets with European Data Spaces under clear usage policies and without manual setup. Working with data space initiatives such as IDSA and BDVA, XLAB ensures that the gateway follows European standards and interoperates with different connector types.
Towards Trustworthy, Compliant AI Data
SYNTACTIC unites technology providers, research institutions and industry across Europe to lay the groundwork for a trusted synthetic data ecosystem that strengthens Europe’s data sovereignty, supports compliance by design and accelerates AI innovation. By securing the platform and connecting it to European Data Spaces, XLAB helps make synthetic data in Europe safe to use and easy to share.
Stay connected with the latest updates from the SYNTACTIC project: https://syntactic-project.eu.
The SYNTACTIC project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101296884.
