NGI0 Entrust

NGI0 Entrust is a unique program to foster open source and open hardware solutions to pervasive privacy and data governance problems in internet technology. NGI0 Entrust leverages the proven successful NGI Zero program to fund internet research and development projects with a light-weight granting procedure and orthogonal support services to address internet-scale requirements. NGI0 Entrust extends this program to contribute to more trustworthy data management tools and decentralized identity management solutions by supporting a European ecosystem of top internet innovators, many of which we expect to be (groups of) individuals previously not funded by Horizon Europe-like R&D initiatives (NGI Zero has +95% grantees not previously funded by H2020). We expect to leave a lasting impact on the field of online data and identity security and privacy, because we can build on decades of experience to make this happen. What is unique about our program is that we provide an agile, effective and low threshold funding mechanism coupled with a greenhouse environment where funded projects in addition to receiving a grant are supported by world class domain experts in various fields, such as security, accessibility, license compliance, etcetera. The experts participating in NGI0 Entrust provide guidance and mentoring to tackle each of these topics and meet important requirements and needs of technologies on internet-scale. And to directly connect project output to decision makers, we can leverage our close ties to major constituencies: major standardization bodies (IETF, W3C, OASIS), the largest European open source community and open source licensing experts (FSFE), the digital rights and civil society actors (EDRi, EFF, Internet Society), the hosting companies (ECO), industrial and hardware representatives and gatherings (OSADL, FOSSI) and operational and technical intermediaries (Euro-IX, RIPE, CENTR, GÉANT, EuroISPA). Together, we can make a more trustworthy internet.