Municipalities often face challenges articulating their data needs in a way that suppliers can respond to effectively. Within the DMI ecosysteem, we introduce a structured approach that transforms static data catalogs into dynamic matchmaking environments. Multiple interoperable marketplaces allow participants to respond to municipal demands with tailored data offerings in an open market.

These marketplaces support modular responses, enabling multiple parties to collaboratively answer complex questions — for example, combining datasets to fulfill a GDPR-compliant request. This flexibility ensures that municipalities receive better, more relevant data with less overhead. To further streamline this process, policy validation is automatically enforced across transactions.

Participants can reuse previously provided evidence, reducing repetitive compliance steps and accelerating response times. This automation supports advanced question-and-answer flows, such as those required by privacy regulations, while maintaining trust and transparency. By embedding these capabilities into the ecosystem, municipalities benefit from a scalable, efficient way to access high-quality data without the burden of manual negotiation or fragmented supply chains.

At the heart of the DMI Ecosysteem lies a commitment to automated governance, ensuring that every data transaction is validated against a shared understanding of what constitutes a trustworthy exchange.

This is achieved through the Afsprakenstelsel — a common framework that defines the minimum criteria for data transactions. Our interpretation of this framework is made available at definities.dmi-ecosysteem.nl, where definitions are translated into machine-readable code. This enables real-time validation and enforcement of agreements, embedding governance directly into the technology stack and reducing reliance on manual oversight.

To further streamline trust and scalability, we’ve developed a Rating system that reflects the purchasing criteria of municipalities, based on standards like GIBIT and ARVODI. This Rating allows participants to share their compliance evidence once and reuse it across the ecosystem, significantly lowering administrative overhead.

It also introduces flexibility, enabling differentiation between organizations while maintaining a consistent baseline of trust. Together, these mechanisms make automated governance not just a concept, but a practical and scalable reality for public sector data collaboration.

Every data agreement is digitally signed and logged, creating a verifiable audit trail that supports transparency and accountability. As agreements are fulfilled, facts are automatically collected — both during the negotiation phase and throughout the lifecycle of the data exchange.

These facts feed into the dynamic rating system that adjusts based on behavior: good conduct improves trust scores, while violations trigger alerts and lower ratings. This continuous feedback loop incentivizes responsible data sharing and discourages misuse.

Beyond individual transactions, the ecosystem generates automated compliance reports at a systemic level. These reports provide municipalities and other stakeholders with real-time insights into policy adherence, risk exposure, and ecosystem health. This drastically reduces legal overhead, minimizes risk, and enables scalable, trustworthy data collaboration across public and private domains.