A pathway to Multilateral Data Sharing: Understanding and overcoming barriers to MLDS in New Zealand’s primary industries

Drawing from lessons of past attempts at data sharing, international experiences, multilateral trade agreements, game theory, and considerations of Te Mana Raraunga Principles of Māori Data Sovereignty, the following two ideas are proposed:

• A data sharing collective framework which aspires to provide a robust way to characterise a single collective, inclusive of the actors, their datasets and applications, and their motivations and hesitations to share data.
• A negotiation mechanism which provides a process to support the formation of MLDS.

The lessons from past attempts at data sharing illustrated the inherent human and organisational complexities for reaching agreement. Therefore, a key contribution from the data sharing collective framework is allowing for actors’ motivations and hesitations to sharing data and analyse how enablers could shift actors in favour of reaching agreement.

With a foundation in game theory yet refined to suit the reality of New Zealand’s primary industries, the proposed negotiation mechanism provides a pragmatic way to form a collective, to draft an initial agreement and to iterate the agreement until final agreement is reached. There are several advantages of the proposed negotiation mechanism, including the commitment to reaching the requirements of all stakeholders that have interest in a data sharing collective – particularly important to ensure that Māori and other minorities are included and have their voices heard and addressed. The proposed negotiation mechanism also distils much of the complexity within the collective and incentivise actors to be truthful – enabling productive conversations from the start.

This work aspires to be a stepping-stone towards the formation of a widespread agreement within New Zealand’s primary industries. The tools presented here will be useful for facilitators to understand and design an initial agreement for a given collective and how to support the formation of a MLDS.