Internet Identity Workshop

What Internet Identity Workshop does

Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization operated by IIW Foundation, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Mountain View, California. Since its inception, IIW has produced a twice-yearly unconference — held at the Computer History Museum — where identity technology professionals convene to discuss, design, and advance Internet identity protocols. The format is Open Space: there are no speakers, keynotes, or panels; every session is proposed and led by attendees. Topics historically covered include OAuth, OpenID Connect, self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, and decentralized identifiers.

IIW's core products are (1) the flagship IIW workshop, held twice yearly with capacity of 375 attendees per event; (2) three regional unconferences — DICE (Digital Identity unConference Europe, co-hosted with Idura), DID:UNCONF Africa (partnered with DIDx, in Stellenbosch), and APAC Digital Identity unConference; (3) 51 Books of Proceedings (38 IIW + 13 regional/special-topic events) documenting session notes and outcomes, available as PDFs; and (4) Identity Commons, an association service offering education and collaboration to identity professionals. Supporting infrastructure includes a recently rebuilt website (v1.0.0, May 2026) with Eventbrite-driven registration, Pagefind-powered search of PDF proceedings, ICS calendar export, and Mailchimp newsletter.

Revenue is generated through two streams: attendee registration fees (processed via Eventbrite, with early-bird pricing tiers not publicly disclosed) and corporate sponsorship. The sponsorship menu is granular — 30+ tiers including Sustaining Sponsor (Google), Conference Dinner (Microsoft), Barista, WiFi, Reception, Whiteboards, meal sponsorships, and Open Gifting — allowing vendors of varying sizes to participate. IIW is independent, not backed by venture capital or private equity, and operates with 1–10 employees.

Name

Internet Identity Workshop

Legal name

IIW Foundation

Website

https://internetidentityworkshop.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit operating a twice-yearly Open Space unconference for Internet identity professionals at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, alongside three regional events in Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industry Events and Conferences

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Federation & Identity Standards (SAML/OIDC/OAuth, Federation Hubs) (HDADAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Single Sign-On (SSO) & Federation (BPAMAEAF)

Keywords

• Digital identity workshops
• Open space unconferences
• Identity standards collaboration
• Self-sovereign identity events
• Decentralized identifier forums

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration Fees: Attendees pay registration fees to participate in the twice-yearly unconference events. The registration includes access to all sessions, meals, and networking events provided by sponsors.
2. Sponsorship Revenue: Corporate sponsors provide financial support in exchange for various sponsorship tiers including Sustaining Sponsor, Conference Dinner, Welcome Dinner, Barista, WiFi, Reception, Opening Circle, Whiteboards, Projection, Qiqo Workshop Hub, Power and Tables, Grand Hall Audio, Post Event Social, Demo Hour, Women's Breakfast, Lunches, Breakfasts, Snack Tables, Documentation Center, Open Gifting, and other event amenities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) produces twice-yearly Open Space unconferences held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, focused on Internet identity topics including OAuth, OpenID Connect, self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, and decentralized identifiers. The organization sells attendee registrations and sponsorships for the flagship event and three regional unconferences (DICE in Europe, DID:UNCONF Africa, APAC Digital Identity), and publishes Books of Proceedings documenting each event's sessions.

Product overview

Internet Identity Workshop operates a portfolio of identity-focused unconference events and publications. The core offering is the flagship IIW workshop held twice yearly at the Computer History Museum in California, using an Open Space unconference format where all sessions are participant-proposed and led. Supporting the flagship are three regional events: DICE (Digital Identity unConference Europe), DID:UNCONF Africa, and APAC Digital Identity unConference. Additionally, Books of Proceedings document sessions and outcomes from each event and are available as PDFs. The organization is operated by IIW Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which also oversees Identity Commons, an association serving identity professionals. IIW is not a software product company—it is an event and community organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DICE: Digital Identity unConference Europe - enabling digital identity collaboration across Europe.
• DID:UNCONF Africa
• APAC Digital Identity unConference

Products and services

• IIW Flagship Workshop Twice-yearly Open Space unconference held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, where participants propose and lead all sessions covering Internet identity topics such as OAuth, OpenID Connect, self-sovereign identity, verifiable credentials, and decentralized identifiers.
• DICE (Digital Identity unConference Europe) IIW-inspired regional Open Space unconference enabling digital identity collaboration across Europe, co-hosted with Idura and held in Zurich.
• DID:UNCONF Africa IIW-inspired regional unconference bridging the digital identity gap in the SADC region, partnered with DIDx and held in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
• APAC Digital Identity unConference IIW-inspired regional unconference fostering innovation and collaboration between emerging digital identity companies and projects across the Asia-Pacific region, with its first event in Bangkok.
• Books of Proceedings PDF documentation products produced for each IIW and regional/special-topic event, containing session notes, discussions, and outcomes from 38 IIW workshops plus 13 regional and special-topic events.

Quantifiable outcome

• 42+ events held since 2005 with books of proceedings documenting all sessions
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• APAC Digital IdentitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2023APAC Digital Identity is a regional unConference inspired by IIW, fostering innovation and collaboration between emerging digital identity companies and projects across the Asia-Pacific region. The first event was in March 2023.
• GoogleflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerGoogle serves as a Sustaining Sponsor of IIW, providing ongoing financial support for the unconference. As a sustaining-level sponsor, Google receives prominent visibility at the event.
• MicrosoftflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerMicrosoft sponsors the Conference Dinner at IIW events, providing a key networking opportunity for attendees. Microsoft is listed as a prominent sponsor alongside Google.
• Identity PraxisminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIdentity Praxis sponsors the Open Gifting sessions across all three days of IIW events, supporting the unconference's collaborative gift economy approach.
• IduracoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIdura serves as the co-host for DICE (Digital Identity unConference Europe), IIW's regional European event. This is a co-development partnership for regional event delivery.
• DIDxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDIDx is the partner organization for DID:UNCONF Africa, a regional unconference bridging the digital identity gap in the SADC region. This is a strategic partnership for regional event delivery.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• KNOW Identity Conference: KNOW Identity is an industry conference focused on digital identity, KYC, and fraud - adjacent to IIW's identity-standards focus but with a heavier fintech and commercial bent. It targets overlapping corporate attendees and sponsors in the identity ecosystem.
• European Identity Conference (KuppingerCole): EIC is the European counterpart to Identiverse, run by analyst firm KuppingerCole. It targets the same identity, access management, and governance topics that IIW covers and competes for the European identity audience, including regional sponsors who might otherwise sponsor DICE.
• Identiverse (CyberArk): Identiverse is the largest commercial identity-industry conference, covering IAM, SSO, and authentication topics that overlap directly with IIW's scope. It targets the same identity-engineering audience but with a vendor-led, keynote-driven format - the principal commercial substitute for IIW.

Emerging players

• MyData Conference: MyData is a global conference on personal data and self-sovereign identity, directly adjacent to IIW's SSI/VC/DID focus. It targets a partially overlapping European and academic audience and represents an alternative forum where IIW-adjacent standards work is discussed.
• Authenticate Conference (FIDO Alliance): Authenticate is the FIDO Alliance's conference on authentication standards (passkeys, WebAuthn, FIDO2), a sub-domain of IIW's identity-standards focus. It attracts overlapping technical audiences and competes for identity-protocol sponsors, but is narrower in scope.
• Okta Customer Events (Oktane): Oktane is Okta's annual user conference covering identity, SSO, and zero-trust topics that overlap directly with IIW's domain. As a vendor-led event it cannot replicate IIW's cross-vendor neutrality, but it draws sponsor and attendee attention away from neutral forums like IIW.

Others

• DEF CON: DEF CON is a community-driven hacker conference that pioneered the no-keynotes, participant-led session model that IIW also uses. While broader in scope (covering all of security, not just identity), it is the most-cited cultural antecedent for the Open Space unconference format IIW employs.
• Open Source Summit (Linux Foundation): Open Source Summit is a Linux Foundation event covering open-source collaboration with a participant-driven, multi-track format. While not identity-specific, it is structurally analogous as a recurring community-organized developer gathering with sponsor tiers and a proceedings/archive model similar to IIW.

Broad incumbents

• RSA Conference: RSAC is the largest commercial security industry conference, covering identity and authentication among many other security topics. It competes for the same enterprise security and identity vendor sponsorship dollars but is much larger and broader in scope than IIW's identity-only focus.
• Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit: Gartner's IAM Summit is an analyst-led conference on identity, access, and cybersecurity, operated by a large research firm. It targets enterprise IAM buyers and competes for sponsor mindshare, but is broader in scope (covering governance and risk beyond technical identity standards).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/idworkshop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/internet-identity-workshop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Internet Identity Workshop