Who are we?
PDEC is the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium is not-for-profit trade association 501(c)6 with members in Europe and North America that organizations and individuals join.
What do we do?
Our purpose is to catalyze a personal data ecosystem.
Specifically, we want…
An ecosystem of tools and services that give individuals the ability to collect, store, and create value from their own personal data. These should open new business opportunities for startups and longstanding industries.
An ecosystem based on open standards, supporting interoperability and data portability.
How do we do it?
We catalyze the emergence of an ecosystem with the following activities:
Community
- Our main effort is the Startup Circle. It connects more than 40 innovative companies with one another and supports collaboration among leaders, technologists, legal counsel and communications professionals.
- We organize Personal Cloud Gatherings around the country (SF, NYC with more cities to come)
- We are key contributors to IIW (Internet Identity Workshop) and cousin events around the world.
- Anyone can subscribe to our regular newsletter about activities and individuals can join the association and support our work.
Advocacy
PDEC regularly engages with regulators and policy makers to encourage approaches that are both pro-business and pro-people. We participate in the US National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, the Digital Enlightenment Forum in Europe, and Identity North in Canada.
Research
We contribute to research projects, including the World Economic Forum’s Rethinking Personal Data Project, and regularly consult with industry analysts. We also publish reports and white papers, like a study of technologies used by personal data startups, underwritten in part by the Internet Society.
Education
PDEC regularly speaks at industry conferences and holds executive seminars on personal data topics.
What is the Startup Circle?
PDEC’s Startup Circle is a community of startups and software projects. They believe personal control of personal data is good for users, society and business. They show their commitment to these values through their products, public statements, and behavior.
Who is in the Startup Circle?
You can see a list of members at http://pde.cc/directory. They represent organizations at every size, from garage to larger ones. They are a mix of self-funded, angel and venture funded companies, not-profit projects, and community interest companies.
How does my company join the Startup Circle?
You apply and your application is reviewed by your peers.
You’ll answer these questions in your application:
- Who will be in control of the data? – Will your users ultimately be able to delete or move their data to another vendor?
- How do you intend to support open standards or otherwise support a user’s move to another vendor?
- How may the user benefit (e.g. socially, professionally, or commercially) from the use other their data?
- Are you ready to express the above in simple and clear terms as a promise to the users of your product/service?
Our members wrote these questions for applying companies to answer to assure there is a values match and shared commitment to being part of an ecosystem.
“Imagine talking to a startup CEO just joining…saying congratulations…your in the circle…here is my advice to you about how to get the most out of this…and in particular Kaliya and her unique skills. Okay, so I would say to that CEO:
- PDEC is unique because it’s the only organization formed entirely to focus on building a health personal data ecosystem in which individuals truly have control and choice. Yes, it’s a trade organization, but not like any other because the “rules” of building this ecosystem are more moral than strictly legal or economic.
- What’s also unusual about it is the unique ability of Kaliya, as Executive Director, to harness that moral force, i.e., keep the development of the overall personal data ecosystem on the right moral and governance track, while at the same time being able to cross-pollinate and find connections and synergies between all the players — both the startups and the big companies and the governments and the advocacy groups.
To really leverage Kaliya and PDEC you need to:
- Talk to her about what you are doing
- Be open and honest about it
- LISTEN to her feedback about what will/won’t work within the ecosystem
- Trust her to guard portions of what you are doing that may be “secret sauce”
- TALK to the people she recommends you talk to (and really LISTEN to them)
- Participate in the community dialogs, particularly the mailing lists and IIWs.
That’s the essence of it. ~ Drummond Reed,
Respect Network | drummond at respectnetwork.net July 12, 2012 via e-mail
How much is membership?
Annual Startup Circle membership fees are:
- Venture Funded Startups: $5000
- Angel backed startups: $1000
- Ultra-bootstrapped companies: $150 with a negotiated rate for companies that fall somewhere in between this level and significant angel funding.
What do we get with Startup Circle membership?
First and foremost, you’re in good company!
Members directly enjoy visibility, intelligence, connections, and the staff.
As a member, you get:
Access to Connections and Important Information for the Ecosystem
- Membership on a communication list with all the other startups in the community.
- To engage with community conversations about policy and trust frameworks across the ecosystem.
- To learn about existing, emerging, and potential standards for interoperability. Curated summaries of PDEC’s tracking of standards efforts.
- Access to contact information for all the companies in the consortium.
- Access to the community knowledge/document repository.
- Discount codes for all PDEC–associated events like IIW and cousin events world wide.
Visibility with Investors, Peers, and Media
- To be highlighted in presentations about the ecosystem to investors.
- Listing on the Website as being part of the Startup Circle.
- Announcements in the PDEC blog, ecosystem wiki, and paper brochure.
- Invitation to lead and participate in Personal Cloud Meetups/Community Gathering.
- Invitations to participate in PDEC member-only dinners/events with special guests (for example we had dinner with Ann Cavoukian, the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, prior to IIW in Fall 2011).
- Invitation to present to the community of startups on podcast/webinars.
Support
- Two individual meetings with PDEC leadership throughout the year.
- Proactive fostering of relationships among Circle members by PDEC leadership with unlimited introductions to others in the ecosystem whose efforts might be synergistic.
- Immersion in the ecosystem’s emerging shared understandings and language. See these posts to understand the meaning and importance of these two things – http://bit.ly/rIg5Tq http://bit.ly/vs7LhL
Apply Online now
PDEC staff facilitates:
- Ongoing sharing of information and development of trust among startup leaders.
- Collaboration of technical staff working on technical interoperability.
- Collaboration among legal counsel and advisors working on the development of shared policies, and potentially, trust frameworks.
- Connecting the PR and Marketing professionals working in various startups; PDEC may work to develop shared messaging and marketing that may be used by all the startups. Another outcome of this cross-company collaboration might be sharing booths at trade shows.
- Meetings of startups in locations around the world near larger industry events.
- Engagement with regulators (primarily in the US and Europe) around policies that are pro-people and pro-businesses with an ethical framework for empowering people with their data.
- Investor Education, including sharing one-pagers from startups seeking funding.
Next Steps
Read the PDE values and vision document.
Contact Kaliya Hamlin director@pde.cc for any questions and to arrange payment.
Start drafting your tweets and blog post celebrating your membership!