9 May 2021

To make the digital world more ethical, respectful and truly trustworthy has been the ambition driving the team behind UniProDaPI. And these motivations could not be more aligned with ONTOCHAIN’s mission! Find out more about the project in this interview with Laurent Henocque, one of the team members.

Laurent Henocque

 

Could you please introduce yourself?

We are KeeeX, a French deeptech startup founded in 2014. We have invented and patented a universal certification process for digital files, that allows for embedding in their metadata proofs of integrity, origin, date, existence through blockchain anchoring, as well as more operational metadata under user control, such as version chaining, references, semantical keywords, copyright. Our solutions are used to certify and make verifiable invoices, press releases, media, remote audit photos, Artificial Intelligence decisions, as well as to make processes traceable in the luxury, agrifood, art, maintenance or supply-chain industries.

 

How did you hear about ONTOCHAIN?

We are members of competitiveness clusters and close to economic development agencies. We heard about ONTOCHAIN for the first time during a presentation of the call for projects. So, thanks again to RisingSUD and Pole TES !

 

What motivated you to apply?

The internet keeps failing at enabling trust, interoperability and privacy and this is exactly what our technology can improve. Our ambition since the beginning has always been to make the digital world more ethical, respectful and truly trustworthy. We consider our patents as a strategic and sovereign asset for Europe. When we took a closer look at the Next Generation Internet (NGI) project, we fully recognized ourselves in it and decided to apply for ONTOCHAIN.

 

How was the application process?

The process was very simple and was done via F6S. We had to describe our project and how it was really different. I think we were selected among the 137 applications because our project is pragmatic, interoperable, scalable and quickly deployable for industrial uses.

 

Can you briefly explain your project and its contribution to the ONTOCHAIN software ecosystem?

UniProDaPI is a universal platform to publish or read data proofs and allows actors to monetize data within trustless digital processes. The ONTOCHAIN software ecosystem will be able to benefit from our core process to seal proofs of trust in all kinds of files in order to make them verifiable, as well as our sidechain proof registry infrastructure to publish ontologies and manage versioning, transfer of ownership or validity of a document within a process.
End-users will be able to use our solutions directly or indirectly to protect their IP, record proof of anteriority or monetize business data, while maintaining control over storage, confidentiality and trading terms.

 

The ONTOCHAIN project is based on a co-development process, how can you benefit from an experience like this? And what type of synergies are you eager to explore with the other selected teams?

It's great to be able to exchange with different people and entities that are all over Europe. This experience will be beneficial for our future co-development or international projects. It is also a return to the roots, because KeeeX has emerged in the early 2010s after the contribution of Laurent Henocque (KeeeX CEO) to the DIP Project (Data Information and Process integration with Web Services) and the W3C SAWSDL (Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schemas) workgroup.
Within the ONTOCHAIN ecosystem, we have identified strong synergies with iExec and other projects at the blockchain, ontology, hardware and identity levels. We are currently trying to work on interoperability between projects.

 

What are your expectations regarding the new software ecosystem that ONTOCHAIN will deliver, its contribution to the NGI priority areas, and benefits for end users?

We believe that the ONTOCHAIN target should be to build ambitious but also simple and human-centric solutions, that can be easily deployed in an industrial context. Humanity needs trusted knowledge and information, that is why we need to move the Internet into a more secure and transparent one. Every end user should be able to access verifiable and trusted content. By pooling everyone's expertise and remaining focused on this target, ONTOCHAIN has everything to build the foundation blocks of a resilient, sustainable and trustworthy internet.