Exploring Requirements and Methods for Designing Sovereign Data Sharing

As the use of digital data becomes increasingly important in modern society, concerns about ownership and control over that data have emerged. The design and development of software systems for data sharing - covering integration and usage - focus on implementing security, privacy, and more recently, data sovereignty. However, there is a lack in scientific methods and best practices for designing software systems that establish this sovereignty. Existing literature discusses data sovereignty requirements but lacks clear underlying concepts for specifying, classifying, or eliciting these requirements. Therefore, our research explores how data sovereignty, as a collection of both functional and non-functional requirements, can be addressed in the software development and requirements engineering processes to support industrial data sharing. Based on literature reviews, case studies, and interviews with subject matter experts, we propose a method for analysing and implementing data sovereignty requirements. By defining and classifying these requirements, we streamline and unify their implementation, which is particularly beneficial for building trust in the collaborative establishment of sovereign data ecosystems. Consequently, the findings of our research have important implications for requirements engineers and decision-makers in data sharing contexts.