Tech innovator interview: Stuart Kempster, COO at Digital Identity Net
'We're working towards allowing 100 per cent of the UK population to answer the question ‘who are you?' whilst online
The UK IT Industry Awards are just around the corner, and one of the firms shortlisted for Emerging Technology Project of the Year is Digital Identity Net, a UK-based developer of OneID, a digital ID system that lets individuals prove who they are online using the personal data held by their bank via Open Banking technology. We caught up with COO Stuart Kempster.
Computing: What makes you different from other technology companies?
Stuart Kempster: Digital Identity Net is focused primarily on two things: ensuring the privacy of our users through OneID, our digital identity platform, and delivering a social purpose.
From a privacy point of view, we neither store nor exploit the personal information of our users. Allowing an individual to choose what they share with whom and for what purpose, ultimately ensuring that they are in full control of their personal information online.
We seek to improve society by using OneID to address areas such as the social harm caused by social media abuse, the harm caused by underage gambling or the impact by those who are impacted by fraud. We will do this by complementing our commercial propositions with free to use services aimed at tackling some of society's biggest problems.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
It's hard to pick just one achievement, but earlier this year, Digital Identity Net became registered as an Account Information Service Provider with the Financial Conduct Authority. This enabled the commencement of our bank based digital identity product, and I couldn't think of many moments more important than that in our journey so far.
What are you working on this year?
Over the next twelve months we will work to take OneID to a full commercial launch. Truly, we are working towards allowing 100 per cent of the UK population to answer the question ‘who are you?' whilst online, easily and safely. Similarly, we want to give organisations the ability to answer the question ‘can you trust that we are who we say we are?'. All of this without the need to share any more information than is actually ever necessary. Watch this space, a lot can be achieved in one year.
Why are events like the UK IT Industry Awards important to the IT industry?
Awards like these are a great platform for different players across the industry to come together, recognise excellence amongst themselves, and find inspiration to achieve more. It is so often true that in tech we can achieve greater things at a faster rate when we put our heads together and share information.
The UK IT Industry Awards will be held on the evening of the 10th November in Battersea, London.