Joint Research on Securing New Trust in a Digital Society

In the 2030s, next-generation wireless communication technologies ("Beyond 5G") will come into widespread use, and this will produce enormous volumes of diverse kinds of data, including vital data and data on behavior in the metaverse. Currently the distribution of the data that are being created is not proceeding adequately due to various issues and restrictions. To adequately realize the value of the new data and achieve a safe, secure and fair digital society, it is essential that a sound mechanism for data distribution be established.

Based on this understanding of the issue, MRI and Research Professor Shinichiro Matsuo have conducted joint research focusing on securing new trust in a digital society (the achievement of relationships of trust in transactions with unknown partners in an online environment) to serve as a foundation for achieving sound data distribution.

This joint research project organized the requirements for trust in a future society in which cyberspace is integrated with physical space, based on factors such as the idea of trust as social capital which has existed prior to the digital society, as well as the most recent technological and policy trends (Web3, Web5, Trusted Web etc.).

Achieving a new type of trust will involve a transition from centralized governance to multi-stakeholder participatory decentralized governance. The study also examined the ecosystem needed to ensure that this type of governance is sustainable, and the mechanism for securing incentives for participants.

Furthermore, the study also organized the necessary measures on the part of government, industry, the tech community and individuals that will be needed to achieve this mechanism, and proposed policies to promote further data distribution using a decentralized trust infrastructure.

Based on the achievements of this joint research, MRI and Research Professor Shinichiro Matsuo will continue to pursue research into a specific roadmap and use cases of promoting data distribution served by the foundation of decentralized trust.