Based on ideas developed since 2005, the Qiy Foundation was established in 2011, with the aim of putting people at the centre of the digital world.

To achieve this goal, the Qiy Foundation strives to give people more control over their own data online. 12 ½ years later, we have achieved a lot.

For instance, from the very beginning we were involved in the creation of the General Data Protection Regulation, which states “Natural persons should have control over their own personal data”.

In co-creation with a large number of government agencies, implementing organisations and commercial companies, we have developed the legal and technical framework conditions, as well as the management structure for the exchange of data under the control of the individual, also known as the Qiy Scheme. Based on this Qiy Scheme, we have been working on privacy-friendly formats for digital services and applications based on the Qiy Trust Principles since 2015.

Every day, a multidisciplinary group of experts provides advice to companies and civil society organisations. In addition, concepts, customer journeys and concrete solutions are developed to give the individual a position in the digital society that is equivalent to his position in the physical world.

Lessons learned

1. Initiatives that seek to change behaviour (“Qiy turns the world around”) are more likely to succeed if they bring benefits to all parties involved.
   This is because behaviour change requires a lot of fear and pain or -and this is the good news- behaviour change happens very quickly if different behaviour brings “ease and benefit”.
2. The right timing for market introduction is essential (the director of the European Data Protection Supervisor’s office in 2012: “You guys are 2 years early”).
3. You don’t have to keep explaining the philosophy, the technical and legal framework and the management structure of underlying systems. It is much more important to market a service that respects the principles of the thinking and that matters, so that people will want to use it en masse.

Move on!

The ‘lessons learned’ provide a good foundation for the next 12 ½ years! Qiy Foundation remains committed to those initiatives that are promising in themselves to capture a market by being relevant to their target groups and that adhere to Qiy Trust Principles.

Where Qiy Foundation seeks to make a positive difference with concrete solutions that put people in control of their own data, the focus has shifted in recent years to projects that combine ‘convenience and benefit’ with just ‘mattering’.

A great example is the growing success of the Dappre Clubs movement, a development by Dappre based on the Qiy Trust Principles. Dutch Data Vault also has what it takes to make a positive difference by offering convenience and benefit combined with ‘doing good’, as seen below.