About iSHARE
The iSHARE Foundation builds and maintains the iSHARE Trust Framework: an open standard that lets organisations give access to their data securely and on their own terms. Any sector can adopt and shape it to fit its own rules and needs.
Building on existing open standards, we define the trust rules and mechanisms for that access: data rights holders express their interests and  delegate who may access their data, for what purpose, and on what terms. Â
As governed by its participants, the framework stays neutral, stable and accessible for everyone who builds on it.
Mission
Empower people and organizations to have full control over their data and enable secure, trusted data sharing.
Vision
Establish the iSHARE Trust Framework for data rights as a global, interoperable standard for data sharing and data autonomy to drive innovation and sustainability.
iSHARE Foundation
It facilitates data sharing among service providers, consumers, and data rights holders. Our role as a scheme owner is to help define and govern various elements required for data providers and data users to verify, authenticate, and authorise requests securely, without ever holding data ourselves.
iSHARE Trust Framework
It provides a secure, proven foundational layer for confident data sharing. Backed by legal, functional, operational, and technical specifications, the framework ensures that power is always reserved to those who own the data, allowing them to share it under their clear terms and conditions.
Unified Policy Infrastructure,
Built for the Digital Age
What we do
- Specifications, framework & schemas: maintaining credential schemas (W3C VC 2.0), versioning, conformance criteria and the Trusted Issuers Registry.
- Legal framework & Foundation governance: the licenses , terms of use, agreements, audits and compliance.
- International harmonisation: aligning with Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), EU dataspaces, eIDAS 2.0/EUDI wallets and sector bodies for cross-border recognition.
- Standardisation: bringing iSHARE specifications into formal standards, protecting against vendor lock-in.
- Marketing & promotion: building recognition through events, publications, case studies and adoption programmes.
Who we empower
- Software companies and SaaS vendors
- Data Rights Holders, Data Providers, Data Consumers
- Cloud hosts, registries, wallets and data platforms
-
Verifiable Credential issuers
(this responsibility falls on to the role of an Authorisation Registry, which your consortium can define in line with our Framework)
Core principles
Transparency
Building understanding together
We keep our rules open and adaptable, and invite everyone into the conversation, so the whole ecosystem knows how things work and can help shape what’s next.
Reliability
Trust we build togetherÂ
Together with diverse organisations, we make sure the right people get access to the right data, safely and securely, wherever they operate.
Fairness
Growing stronger together
We recognise that every organisation’s needs are different, and work to give all of them, large or small, wherever they’re based, an equal footing to participate.
Autonomy
Your data, your choice
We help you stay in control: you decide who accesses your data, under what conditions, and for how long. We make sure that control holds, across every domain and border.
Openess
Building it together, for everyone
iSHARE is open-source. Any organisation, anywhere, can use it, improve it, and shape it with us, because a shared framework gets stronger the more people contribute.
Interoperability
Connecting what already works
We fit with existing tools, standards, and data spaces, it means organisations can join a growing global network without starting from scratch.
Data Space, Certified Party, or Ecosystem Hub?
Find your ideal iSHARE membership to drive secure cross-border collaboration while keeping complete authority over your data.
