A software architecture and protocol to implement digital public infrastructures for enhanced value chain ecosystems

This paper proposes a novel Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) composed of a large-scale network of extensible software agents, referred to as DPI Nodes, designed to operate across complex and distributed ecosystems. Our infrastructure addresses value chain ecosystems—such as global trade, supply chains, and the circular economy—which currently lack decentralisation, transparency, and traceability, while facing increasing regulatory compliance demands. To address these challenges, we introduce an infrastructure capable of supporting heterogeneous, multi-stakeholder environments without requiring centralised control or pre-established trust. Our DPI Nodes are built on distributed ledger technologies and heterogeneous data stores and provide three core capabilities: (i) auditable digital twins representing trade items and associated documents throughout their lifecycle; (ii) a permissioned, verifiable protocol for secure data discovery and exchange among sovereign participants; and (iii) a trust framework and federation layer based on self-sovereign identity. Together, these components enable transparent, tamper-evident record keeping while allowing different actors to autonomously manage and exchange trusted data without dependence on a centralized data hub. The proposed architecture has been designed to support multiple decentralised technologies, including the IOTA distributed ledger, used as a base for the implementation presented in this paper. We evaluated the benefits of our solution through pilot deployments across distinct trade ecosystems and trade lanes in Kenya and the United Kingdom. Experimental results demonstrate benefits in terms of cost reduction, improved transport efficiency, enhanced transparency, and streamlined compliance verification. Among other, most notably, the processing time of export/import documents is reduced from days/weeks to under 5 min with 96% improvement in cross-border process efficiency. While the proposed DPI significantly improves accessibility, accountability, and operational efficiency, and contributes to fraud reduction across cross-border trade processes, its global adoption remains contingent on addressing open multidisciplinary challenges. To answer that, we conclude the paper with a discussion on how scalable governance, interoperability across jurisdictions, and sustainable business models become the keystones capable of supporting long-term operation and evolution of decentralised public infrastructures.