When it comes to determining to what extent an individual deserves access to an opportunity, or whether they have the right to a service, there is far too much room for bias and faulty decision making. In some cases, this results from easily falsifiable information, in other cases it results from the unreliability of the sources available to the decision-maker, but in most cases, it results from a lack of information, updated in real-time.
Such a lack of fairness risks strongly limiting one’s potential, decreasing the efficiency of companies that depend on reliable interaction and having the right people, and on a larger scale, it makes it difficult for society to evolve. We want to automate trust based on the facts as opposed to the widespread use of social networks, prejudice and stereotypes as sources of information about individuals. Last but not least, we strongly believe that the unique legitimate owner of one’s information should be the individual themselves.
How Are You Solving That Problem?
We use the immutability and transparency of blockchains to store proofs of information. We use a complex system to cryptographically secure information in a way that is verifiable and immutable, and we enable the legitimate owner to share it with whoever they want. Finally, we wanted to create a glue to cohere all of the pieces of information the individuals collect about themselves: their identity, work, knowledge and eligibility. The TiiQu score collates and continuously balances sources of truth and equalizes their credibility. The aim of the TiiQu score is to synthesize in the universal language of numbers to what extent a set of claims is true and valid.
How Do You Differ From The Competition?
We know that blockchain-based credentials will become the norm one day. However, this is not presently the case. And even when this happens, there will be disputes about which blockchain, what governance, which issuer. TiiQu merges the different sources of one’s reputation and summarizes equalized sources into a single number that represents the extent to which you can trust those sources. It’s like a real-time picture of the broader identity of an individual, and it seeks to provide concrete answers to questions about who a person is, what they know, what they’re eligible for and what they’re capable of. What makes it different? It is based on facts and cannot be manipulated or wrongly interpreted, equity and objectivity are embedded in it. A farmer in Africa and a financial advisor in London may have the same TiiQu score: you, as the decision maker, take the decision based on information you can rely on, and because the proofs are “equalized”, you don’t risk comparing apples with oranges.
How Has The Pandemic Impacted Your Company?
It was quite distressing in the initial months, however I can’t say it really impacted us. We have always been a remote team, and we will continue as such. The pandemic has driven society to understand that we are at a critical turning point. We need new trust mechanisms when it comes to sharing health certificates, when we delegate employees to work from home and when we interact online.
An Outline Of The Way The World Is Changing And How You Fit Into It
We will embrace the enormous benefits that the online world provides at a global level. Although some divides will remain, as emerging countries still have a very low level of connectivity, so in some ways they might be excluded initially, but given the fact that such countries have legacy systems that need to be dismantled to allow new systems to spread more quickly, potentially allowing them to catch up with the initial delay. Everyone has a role and a “best fit”. My role at TiiQu is to be the initiator of a new trust mechanism that can potentially build bridges between worlds, and to enable people to gain the level of trust they deserve.
What Is the Vision?
Change is a long but inevitable process that stems from the inconsistencies between static practices and evolving human beings. The goal of any change-maker is to establish a new normal, however, no change can happen as a result of just one person or entity. Real change happens when the proposed change matches the inner desires of recipients and makes them vanguards of the same change. The new norm must be smoothly accessible, aligned with other normal practices, and must represent a solution for inner unspoken desires. It took a long time for me to come up with a product that synthesizes self-assessment/ certification of truth/evaluation of trusted sources in a mobile solution, finally having the glue of our previously built technologies, it will be available for a restricted number of early users by October.
It will be the starting point of a new way to conceive one’s identity. In 5 years, I hope the TiiQu will have at least 1 million users.
What Is the Next Big Challenge in Information Security?
In our realm, I think it is necessary to work on quantum-resistant algorithms, that’s where I see our blockchain-based Certiif being useful: the only credentialing system that doesn’t require a platform for timestamping a piece of information on the blockchain. Quantum security is not a goal, it is a step in a road map that will never end because human beings and the virtual world have something in common: when a rule or a mechanism is created, the race starts for dismantling it and eventually creating a new one.
How Do People Get Involved/Buy into Your Vision?
We look for communities that are willing to add value to their members. They represent the place where a special person-led relationship between members exists and flourish. People join communities to identify themselves, to find support, to learn to be themselves or who they want to become.
Communities, professional groups, cities, hubs of learning and vertical hubs are our target partners. There is no better place to track and reward contribution, the efficacy and reliability of skills and professional abilities. The TiiQu mechanism will serve community members and facilitate them to grow their irrefutable reputation and their value on the market. Simultaneously, communities will strengthen their identity and their impact, relevance and trustworthiness as a community.
