Unlocking the Power of Digital Commons: Data Cooperatives as a Pathway for Data Sovereign, Innovative and Equitable Digital Communities

Network effects, economies of scale, and lock-in-effects increasingly lead to a concentration digital resources capabilities, hindering the free equitable development entrepreneurship, new skills, jobs, especially in small communities their medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). To ensure affordability accessibility technologies, promote entrepreneurship community well-being, protect rights, we propose data cooperatives as vehicle for secure, trusted, sovereign exchange. In post-pandemic times, community/SME-led can play vital role by ensuring that supply chains support commons are uninterrupted, resilient, decentralized. Digital sovereignty provide with affordable easy access information ability collectively negotiate data-related decisions. Moreover, cooperative (a) infrastructure underpins modern economy, (b) preserve property (c) privatization monopolization do not further erode self-determination, world mediated AI. Thus, governance plays significant accelerating communities’/SMEs’ transformation addressing challenges. Cooperatives thrive on standards such open trusted application programming interfaces (“APIs”) increase efficiency, technological capacities participants and, most importantly, integrate, enable, accelerate SMEs overall process. This review article analyses an array transformative use cases underline potential governance. These case studies exemplify how platform cooperatives, through innovative value creation mechanisms, elevate dimension collaboration, thereby pressing societal issues. Guided our research aim, policy framework supports practical implementation federation platforms cooperatives. blueprint intends facilitate sustainable both Global South North, fostering inclusive strategies.