Open identity infrastructure
About ArkID
ArkID is open identity infrastructure for research and innovation.
It gives ideas, people, organizations, projects, funding, outputs, and products a durable identity, and makes the relationships between them traceable over time.
Built on open standards and stewarded from Europe for global use, ArkID helps the research and innovation ecosystem move from fragmented records to accountable infrastructure.
Why ArkID exists
Research and Innovation Are Connected. Their Records Usually Are Not.
The systems that record this work weren't built to talk to each other. Each one captures a slice.
A registry knows the institution.
A portal knows the project, the funding, and the output.
ArkID exists to connect the full picture.
Its job is to give research and innovation a shared identity layer — so attribution is auditable, provenance is portable, and systems can interoperate across institutions and borders.
What ArkID makes possible
A Shared Identity Layer for the Research and Innovation Graph
Universal identifiers
ArkID provides standardized identifiers for the core entities of research and innovation, so each entity can be referenced, resolved, and reused consistently across systems.
Verifiable relationships
ArkID models how those entities connect over time, including affiliations, authorship, participation, stewardship, funding, and other relationships that need to remain accountable.
Interoperability by design
ArkID is built to work with the wider ecosystem, including ORCID, ROR, DOI and DataCite infrastructure, Crossref, and institutional identity systems, so identity can move across platforms instead of being trapped inside one silo.
Open and sovereign foundations
ArkID is open-source infrastructure, rooted in European governance and data protection principles, and designed to serve a global research and innovation community.
Entity scope
What ArkID Identifies
Ideas
Early-stage concepts, hypotheses, and innovation opportunities that need durable reference and traceability.
People
Researchers, founders, contributors, reviewers, and other participants across the innovation lifecycle.
Organizations
Universities, startups, labs, public bodies, companies, institutes, and other institutions that shape research and innovation.
Projects
The formal structures through which collaboration, funding, delivery, and accountability are organized.
Funding
Calls, grants, instruments, and funding opportunities that shape what gets built and who can participate.
Outputs
Publications, datasets, software, deliverables, prototypes, and commercial products that emerge from research and innovation activity.
Why it matters
Identity Is Becoming Core Infrastructure
When identity is fragmented, attribution breaks, provenance disappears, and collaboration becomes harder to trust.
ArkID helps answer the questions existing systems often leave unresolved:
Who contributed to this output?
Which organization stood behind it?
Which project and funding stream made it possible?
What ideas preceded it?
How do these records connect across platforms and over time?
By making those relationships identifiable, resolvable, and verifiable, ArkID turns identity into infrastructure.
Standards and foundations
Built for Interoperability, Durability, and Trust
ArkID is grounded in open standards and interoperable identity infrastructure.
Identifier structure and validation aligned with ISO 27729 principles
OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 support
Integration pathways for ORCID, ROR, DOI and DataCite, Crossref, and institutional identity systems
W3C Verifiable Credentials on the roadmap
Open-source licensing under Apache 2.0
EU-based stewardship by Mycel UG (haftungsbeschränkt), with long-term direction toward broader community governance
Get started
Ready to Build on ArkID?
Join ArkID and establish durable, interoperable identity across the research and innovation ecosystem.