Find the right iSHARE membership for you
Why use the iSHARE Trust Framework?
Without shared governance standards, use cases operate in silos and cross-sector collaboration cannot reach its full value. The iSHARE Trust Framework lets organisations verify each other directly and access data at the source, across ecosystems, sectors and borders.
The framework provides a governance schema (roles, agreements and decision rights), a compliance schema (certification, audit and conformance), credential schemas built on W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0, the iSHARE Licence library and harmonised API specifications — with reference implementations to get started.
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Its purpose is simple: data rights holders stay in control. They decide who may access their data, for what purpose and on what terms; data users get one standardised way to prove who they are and what they may access. Your Data. Your Choice.
Governed as a non-profit foundation, iSHARE operates purely as a neutral scheme owner: it defines the standard and certifies, while certified parties build, implement and issue. Every membership fee is reinvested directly in the development of the scheme, so iSHARE never competes for your commercial revenue.
What the Framework guarantees
Trust & legal certainty
Standardised identity validation and legal agreements that give access to data binding force.
The rules travel with the data
Data Rights Credentials carry the licence and access conditions the data rights holder sets, while the data itself stays at its source.
Fit for EU regulation
Designed to fit the EU Data Act, the GDPR and the DSSC (Data Spaces Support Centre) Blueprint.
Interoperability across sectors and borders
Connect across systems, sectors and borders — supply chains, energy grids, sector initiatives and data spaces alike.
Certified Party
What we offer
1
Issue all credential types: One accreditation to issue Data Rights, Framework Compliance, Dataspace Participant and Party ID Credentials (W3C VC 2.0).
2
Be trusted by every verifier: Get listed on the Trusted Issuers List, so any verifier in the growing iSHARE network can validate your credentials directly.
3
Serve any sector: Offer trusted identification, authorisation and credential services to collaborations in any sector — supply chains, energy, mobility, data spaces.
4
Integrate fast: Test and deploy your setup using the test environments and reference implementations.
What you gain
1
Growing demand: iSHARE asks every collaboration under the framework to work with more than one certified issuer.
2
A scheme owner that does not compete: Partner with a neutral, non-profit scheme owner that certifies issuers rather than competing with them.
3
New revenue streams: Build a recurring commercial model by offering credential services to expanding networks.
4
Tools and working groups: Early access to technical support, new credential types and schema working groups.
For (cloud) service providers.
Data Space Authority
What we offer
1
Govern your collaboration: Set up and run a trusted ecosystem on the iSHARE Trust Framework, shaped to your own rules and needs.
2
Streamline onboarding: Use ready-made legal terms and accession agreements to onboard participants quickly.
3
Enforce compliance: Control roles, credentials and compliance procedures across your network.
4
Scale across borders: Give participants cross-border and cross-sector access to data at the source, with full interoperability.
What you gain
1
DSSC-aligned guidance: Advice, workshops and templates aligned with the DSSC Blueprint and EU standards.
2
Testing & technical tools: Access to test environments, reference implementations and setup support.
3
Governance seats: Voting rights on the Council of Participants and the Change Advisory Board.
4
Issuer role included: Your Authority is certified as issuer of, and authority for, your data space’s membership credential (Dataspace Participant Credential) — included in your membership.
For those wanting to operate a Data Space.
HUB
What you gain
1
Ready-made educational materials and onboarding resources to share with your community
2
Direct line to iSHARE’s ecosystem-building expertise and its network of certified parties and collaborations across sectors
3
Positioning as a forward-looking hub connected to a European trust framework and the wider landscape of trusted data access
4
Opportunities to fast-track promising members of your community into iSHARE-based collaborations
For incubators, accelerators, industry hub’s, tech communities.
Mission Partner
What you gain
1
Recognition as an official supporter of the Foundation’s mission: trusted access to data, with data rights holders in control.
2
Ability to provide input on framework direction from a non-operational, mission-aligned perspective.
3
Access to the iSHARE community, events, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
4
Early visibility into framework developments and roadmap direction.
5
A platform to connect with certified parties, data space authorities and other mission-aligned organisations.
For those wanting to support the iSHARE mission.
What iSHARE adoption saves you
- Legal & drafting costs: Skip the drafting: ready-to-use agreements and the iSHARE Licence library, reviewed once for everyone.
- Schema design & software overhead: Reuse the governance, compliance and credential schemas (W3C VC 2.0) and the reference implementations instead of designing your own.
- Governance setup: Adopt proven onboarding, audit and security procedures instead of building them from scratch.
- Custom integration expenses: One harmonised way to prove identity and access rights replaces custom trust and authorisation integrations per partner.
