One copy of the truth - Sir Tim Berners-Lee on Solid and the future of enterprise data
Most organisations keep their own record of the people and businesses they deal with. The same details are repeatedly collected, copied, secured and checked against each other, yet they are rarely up to date, easy to move, or under the control of the people they describe. That one habit accounts for much of the cost, the risk of breaches and the compliance burden carried by data leaders in finance, healthcare and government.
Solid, an open web standard stewarded by the Open Data Institute, offers a different way of working. Data is stored once and shared only with clear, recorded permission. This ensures information stays up-to-date at its source and remains under the control of the person or organisation it belongs to. The services that need the data read it directly rather than each keeping their own copy.
The EDM Association and the Open Data Institute are establishing a community of practice to help finance, healthcare and government put this into practice. The group will:
- Run real pilots in each sector
- Agree how Solid aligns with the data standards these industries already rely on, starting with finance
- Build a trusted, independent way to certify that a Solid service meets a sector's requirements
To mark the launch, we are joined in conversation by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, who developed Solid with collaborators at MIT, and John Bruce, co-founder and chief executive of Inrupt, the company Sir Tim co-founded to bring Solid to enterprise. They will discuss:
- What Solid is and why it was developed
- Early deployments in various industries including government and healthcare
- Why this matters even more now with the rapid pace of AI development
The community of practice co-chairs will close the session by outlining the group's deliverables and how to participate.