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Decentralized approaches play an increasingly critical role in multi-stakeholder activities which require (a) shared situational awareness, (b) shared coordination points, and (c) historical record of activities, in disperse and distributed activities, such as manufacturing supply chains, space, and national security. These activities require stakeholders to mutually coordinate and cooperate by sharing information with each other. The common modes of information sharing are bi-lateral exchanges, and ‘walled garden’ sharing among a subset of stakeholders. Problems arise due to incomplete information sharing and lack of trust among stakeholders. The origins of mistrust are: (a) stakeholders may not trust (political, technical, risk) a single stakeholder to be fully in control of information flow and storage; (b) risk of central-point-of-failure is too high; (c) uncertain data integrity between stakeholders where all stakeholders do not trust each other. Multi-stakeholder data sharing challenges can be addressed with decentralized approaches and associated decentralized data technology such as ledgers and blockchain. Decentralized data technology includes decentralized identity (e.g., W3C DID), decentralized file storage, and blockchain/ledgers to provide cryptographically provable data integrity properties (e.g., tamper evident), as well as increased resilience to accident and attack. Fortunately, the decentralized data technology sector is maturing, and entering a phase of wider adoption in industry, pursuing decentralized data technologies at an increasing rate. This paper starts with a brief review of decentralized data technology, then describes multi-stakeholder examples in space sensor tasking and manufacturing supply chain where decentralized approaches and data technologies can improve coordination and cooperation.
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