Today, Project Liberty Institute is proud to launch a new report: “How Can Data Cooperatives Help Build a Fair Data Economy? Laying the Groundwork for a Scalable Alternative to the Centralized Digital Economy,” in collaboration with the Decentralization Research Center.
Released during the UN’s 2025 International Year of Cooperatives, this report marks a pivotal moment to acknowledge the global impact of cooperatives and reimagine their role in shaping a more democratic and equitable digital future. It examines how the cooperative model with hundreds of years of legacy is evolving, highlighting a diverse set of models, from cooperative and hybrid approaches being tested today to startups and digital platforms, as well as legacy co-ops experimenting with new infrastructure and legal frameworks.
“This report is designed to bridge the gap between digital literacy and co-op literacy. Indeed, if empowered with meaningful rights and agency, individuals can drive innovation and help expand more just and inclusive digital systems.”
Sheila Warren, Project Liberty Institute CEO
It includes case studies, authored by their founders and executive leaders, from across various sectors: from legacy cooperatives in agriculture and finance to emerging data cooperatives focused on digital art and online browsers. These examples range from long-established institutions to brand-new experiments, illustrating the flexibility and adaptability of cooperative approaches in the data economy.
Key Insights:
- Data as a collective resource: Individual data rights and consent frameworks are not enough. Data’s real value comes from being pooled thus making collective models like co-ops a powerful alternative.
- Scale out, rather than scale up: Co-ops grow through networks, not monopolies. This allows for decentralized, context-driven, and democratic governance that reflects the nature of data itself.
- Quality data is needed for better AI: The shared ownership provided by the coop model ensures those who generate it share its benefits. Co-ops incentivize quality, trustworthy data, making them uniquely aligned with both ethical AI development and fairer outcomes for contributors.
- Shaping markets, not just regulating them: Policy has supported cooperatives, making them a legacy model; it should do the same with data cooperatives. Governments must move beyond ex-post and punitive regulation only and act as proactive market shapers to support cooperative infrastructure.
Co-developed by practitioners, policymakers, and technologists, in collaboration with the Decentralization Research Center and launched during the 2025 UN International Year of Cooperatives, this report explores how co-ops can return power, value, and voice to people in the digital economy. This report is a follow-up to How Can Data Cooperatives Help Build a Fair Data Economy? Preliminary Observations and Considerations for Practical Data Governance Solutions, also done in collaboration with the Decentralization Research Center.