{"id":14654,"title":"Roadmaps for Digital Commons 2040: How We Can Shape Digital Ecosystems","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalisierung-und-gemeinwohl.de\/en\/2026\/08\/27\/roadmaps-for-digital-commons-2040-how-we-can-shape-digital-ecosystems\/","date":"27. August 2026","date_unix":1787810433,"date_modified_unix":1793804069,"date_iso":"2026-08-27T06:00:33+00:00","content":"

Digital commons promise new opportunities to shape the digital space in an open and socially responsible way, as well as to strengthen digital sovereignty. But what might the future look like with them? In the Digital Commons 2040 foresight process, we venture a look ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.\u201d
\n\u2015 Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To conceive of the future as something we actively shape, rather than something that simply happens to us, we need imagination and the courage to develop exploratory ideas that can reveal different courses of action and expand our scope for action. Particularly in the context of digitalization, the impression quickly arises that the future is being forged in Silicon Valley and is galloping away from us with ever-new technological developments. The rise of generative AI, the market power of large platforms, and our dependence on a few cloud providers raise the question: How much digital self-determination do we still have as nations, as a society, and as individuals? And: What kind of digital world do we want to live in? What can we do to shape this world? Anyone who takes these questions seriously cannot avoid looking ahead, rather than merely reacting to what is happening right now. That is exactly what we aim to do with the Digital Commons 2040 foresight process together with experts from academia, civil society, politics, and technology.<\/p>\n

What Are Digital Commons?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Digital commons<\/a> have been widely discussed as a way to achieve greater democratic participation and sovereignty in the digital sphere. They are digital resources that are developed collectively, are openly accessible, and are intended to serve the common good. They are a subset of the commons, consisting of data, information, culture, and knowledge that are created and\/or maintained online. They are shared in a way that prevents them from being enclosed and enables everyone to access and build upon them. Unlike traditional material goods, digital resources do not depreciate with use: the more people use them, the more valuable they often become. It is precisely this characteristic that makes them a promising building block for greater democratic participation and sovereignty in the digital sphere. Well-known examples include open-source software, Wikipedia, the decentralized social network Mastodon, and collectively managed data and AI infrastructures.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that openness alone is not enough. For open technology to truly become a common good, it requires \u2014 as Commons researcher Elinor Ostrom has shown for traditional commons<\/a> \u2014 clear rules, reliable institutions, and a willingness to share responsibility. Ostrom received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for demonstrating that common-pool resources are not inevitably overexploited but can be sustainably preserved through effective governance structures. This is precisely the focus of the Global Digital Compact<\/a>, which the United Nations adopted in September 2024 at the Summit of the Future: Under the heading \u201cDigital Public Goods<\/a>,\u201d it calls for an internationally coordinated governance architecture for digital commons.<\/p>\n

For those interested, we recommend the following further reading:<\/p>\n