VESPACE: A verifiable blockchain-based data space solution to empower the data economy

In the rapidly evolving data economy, the ability to securely and efficiently share data between organizations has become paramount, unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth. In this context, different initiatives have worked on conceptual proposals and enabling technological building blocks, addressing design aspects of data spaces. However, the current landscape lacks practical implementations and integration of secure data-sharing primitives supporting a decentralized data ecosystem. To this end, we conduct an analysis of previous efforts and initiatives, identifying gaps. We then introduce VESPACE, a blockchain-based platform for data spaces that enables participants to selectively and securely share verifiable data with authorized users while maintaining control over their access. Our framework incorporates data sovereignty principles implemented through Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), Verifiable Credentials (VCs), and blockchain technology, qualifying decentralized identity and access control as key features to establish user trust in decentralized data ecosystems. We present a prototype system implementation of VESPACE, evaluating the design choices, showcasing the feasibility of our proposal.