The purpose of the MaterialDigital (PMD) platform is to standardize the handling of data in the discipline of materials science and engineering. The overarching goal of the effort is to develop a sustainable data infrastructure for materials science and engineering. This infrastructure is based on decentralized communicating server instances based on the VPN of the International Data Spaces (IDS). Through a shared basis of trust, participating servers can grant each other individualized reading, editing and resource usage rights according to user. In this way, PMD guarantees data sovereignty and relevance for industrial applications. PMD stores research data and specialist knowledge on the basis of shared ontologies in a structured manner and in accordance with the FAIR principles. Reproducible evaluation routines build on the information structured in this way within shared runtime environments. The PMD thus becomes a central vehicle for gaining future scientific knowledge. For projects that aim to structure data and knowledge in a sustainable way, the PMD will become a fixed point of reference and contact. Security, ownership and access rights to the data, taking into account the interests of the data producers, are at the forefront of all activities. The selection of suitable license models for use both by the PMD and in the context of other contributions (e.g. code, ontologies, specifications) is supported by those responsible for the platform wherever possible.