The initial objective of a dataspace is to remain in control of the data and the infrastructure required for the exchange of information, also known as data - and digital sovereignty. This explains the “decentralized” part in the definition above. Digital sovereignty refers to the ability of a nation or organization to control and regulate its digital infrastructure and activities, while data sovereignty refers to the right of individuals and organizations to control their personal data. Both concepts are important in the digital age, as they help to ensure that individuals and organizations can make informed decisions about their digital activities and protect their digital assets. 

A secondary objective is to reduce the effort and costs to implement generic IT solutions for common requirements such as identification, authentication and discovery of organisations, data and business services.

For the first objective individual control is required and collaboration between organisations is necessary to achieve the second objective. Therefore, a dataspace is primarily a set of agreements of agreed principles and rules, between companies. This involves agreement on legal, organisational, semantical and technical aspects.   

Furthermore, it is a collaboration or cooperation of organisations to reduce the costs for implementing a secure mechanism for trustworthy data sharing by (re)using IT services under commonly agreed rules and principles. Developing and deploying IT services once and share them with many, not only reduces the costs but also allows new participants to join faster and without having specialised knowledge of deploying such services of their own. 

A dataspace is in the first place an organisation of companies who join forces to achieve a mutual objective and in the second place it consists of enabling IT services for data-exchange. The 0FLW Dataspace is not intended for data storage unlike a data-lake or database.