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How to Embed Digital Self-Determination within Data Spaces

On September 2, 2025, at the Swiss Data Space Forum in Rotkreuz, Switzerland, The GovLab presented on how to operationalize Digital Self-Determination (DSD) within the context of Swiss data spaces. At the heart of the discussion was a central question: How to operationalize DSD into data spaces? At the Forum, we held two workshops toward answering that question with the participants.

From Switzerland to a Global Movement

Though DSD originated in Switzerland, it has quickly grown into a global network of practitioners and policymakers who see the urgent need for new approaches to data governance. Across contexts, people feel the costs of not having access to data for reuse, coupled with the sense that data is being extracted and commodified without their agency or benefit.

Why Digital Self-Determination Now?

Several trends underscore the importance of advancing DSD today:

  • Opportunity Cost of Inaccessibility: Without data reuse, societies lose the chance to generate new insights for public good.

  • AI’s Appetite for Data: Rapid deployment of AI intensifies extraction dynamics, eroding trust and legitimacy.

  • Geopolitical Competition: Data sovereignty dominates the conversation, but too often focuses on dependency-prevention rather than empowerment.

  • Limits of Consent: Binary consent frameworks have reached their limit; we need participatory governance that grants people real influence over data use.

From Principle to Practice: Five Pillars of DSD

The GovLab’s research identifies five pillars for embedding DSD in the design and governance of data spaces:

  1. Moving beyond consent toward a social license for data reuse.

  2. Embedding DSD principles into data sharing agreements to safeguard fairness and agency.

  3. Designing governance models for data spaces that are aligned with DSD principles from the outset.

  4. Making the business case for data sharing by demonstrating societal and economic value.

  5. Stress-testing data spaces to assess alignment with DSD and ensure resilience.

Together, these pillars provide a roadmap for turning DSD from an aspiration into an operational framework.

Workshops on Operationalizing DSD

At the Forum, two workshops co-hosted by The GovLab together with Céliane Pochon and Pablo Wey focused on how to make DSD actionable in the context of Swiss data spaces. The discussions were organized around three practical questions:

  • Establishing Preferences and Expectations: How can individuals and communities articulate their preferences regarding the use of their data, and who constitutes the “self” in self-determination?

  • Documenting Preferences and Expectations: How can these preferences be embedded into agreements, governance structures, and technical mechanisms in ways that are actionable?

  • Enforcing Preferences and Expectations: What accountability mechanisms can ensure that conditions are respected and compliance is maintained?

Closing Reflections: Building AI-Ready and Trustworthy Data Spaces

The Forum concluded with a set of reflections on what it will take to prepare Swiss data spaces for the future:

  • Balancing systematic approaches with contextual fitness by focusing on priority questions and defining data steward roles and methods.

  • Preparing for an AI-ready future, ensuring that data spaces can support the demands of AI while protecting agency and legitimacy.

  • Becoming more data-driven, particularly by benchmarking the current state of data spaces against desired outcomes.

  • Increasing transparency around costs, both the financial costs of building data spaces and the opportunity costs of not investing in them.

  • Stress-testing operational and business models to ensure long-term sustainability and resilience.

Toward Trusted and Legitimate Data Spaces

Ultimately, the discussions at the Swiss Data Space Forum underscored that data spaces are more than technical infrastructures: they are governance systems whose legitimacy depends on transparency, accountability, and agency. By embedding Digital Self-Determination at their core, Swiss data spaces can become trusted platforms that not only unlock the value of data for innovation but also empower individuals and communities to shape how their data is used.

Find the presentation from the event here

For more on the global movement to operationalize DSD, visit idsd.network