- 1998Foundation
OISTE is founded in Geneva
Created to promote international standards for secure electronic transactions and to make certification authorities interoperable. Switzerland is chosen deliberately: a neutral jurisdiction for a root no single state should own. Under the aegis of the ITU the foundation adopts X.509 as the basis of its trust model, and with WISeKey and the World Trade Centre is among the first partners of the ITU’s Electronic Commerce for Developing Countries initiative.
- 1999
WISeKey is incorporated as operator
In January Carlos Moreira incorporates WISeKey in Geneva to operate the infrastructure under contract to the foundation. OISTE keeps the policy authority; the operator runs the machines.
- 2000
WISeWorld 2000 and a CA for developing countries
Some 500 participants from 120 countries and 11 international organisations meet in Geneva. Within two years more than 220 organisations, from ministries to telecom operators, chambers of commerce and banks, use the first certification authority built for developing and least developed countries.
- 2003
WSIS Geneva: the case for a neutral root
OISTE argues that domain name and identity technologies should pass to neutral authorities working in the public interest, and calls for a universal, interoperable root certification authority for identity.
- 2005
WSIS Tunis: identity for the citizen
In the physical world the state guarantees identity; in cyberspace no one does. OISTE calls for certified identities on public key infrastructure, coordinated by a Policy Approval Authority, under a primary root key that guarantees technical and legal interoperability. The OISTE WISeKey Global Root GA is issued in December.
- 2012Rights and governance
WSIS Forum position paper
The workshop Matching the speed of the running code proposes an international clearing house for identity interoperability and a binding legal framework for personal data.
- 2013
The right to disappear on the internet
OISTE launches the campaign three years before the GDPR was adopted, and signs the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.
- 2014
Identity at Davos
A World Economic Forum side event on identity, privacy and trust in the cloud, followed in 2015 by a round table with Fraunhofer FOKUS, IKED and ICANN.
- 2015
Identity for people in motion
Globally verifiable identity for migrants, and a verifiable seafarers’ identity document with the Association for International Mobility.
- 2017
WSIS Forum with the World Trade Point Federation
Joint positions on the trust deficit in e-commerce: cross-border identity, encryption that preserves both innovation and privacy, and infrastructure funding for least developed countries.
- 2019
CPS 3.0, the Human Rights Council and Zermatt
The Certification Practice Statement 3.0 is issued in February. On 1 March the foundation holds a panel on privacy at the 40th session of the Human Rights Council. At the Zermatt Summit it launches the Anti-Illicit Trade Declaration.
- 2020Identity for all
The Ethical Chart
Six articles set out the foundation’s ethical position on privacy, identity, cryptography, AI, internet governance and illicit trade.
- 2021
Statements on identity law
Written statements to the 46th session of the Human Rights Council on Article 12 of the UDHR, and on the Swiss federal e-ID Act.
- 2022
One Humanity ID
In December ONUART launches One Humanity ID in Geneva, a digital identity platform built by WISeKey on WISeID.
- 2023
Global Dialogue on AI at the United Nations
The second UNAOC global dialogue, Towards the World of One Humanity: the Role of AI, is held in Room XX of the Palais des Nations on 20 October.
- 2024Quantum and AI
A quantum root is announced
In December OISTE and WISeKey announce a next-generation quantum root of trust. NIST publishes its draft transition plan, IR 8547, in November.
- 2025
HUMAN-AI-T is launched
OISTE, WISeKey, SEALSQ and the UN Alliance of Civilizations launch HUMAN-AI-T, presented at the third UNAOC dialogue in Geneva in April.
- 2025
7 May: the Quantum Root Key is generated
Twenty years after calling for a primary root key that guarantees interoperability, the foundation generates a second one on ML-DSA, ML-KEM and FALCON, for a threat that did not exist when the first was made.
- 2025
World Human Rights Concert, UN Geneva
OISTE and WISeKey present HUMAN-AI-T at the Palais des Nations on 18 December.
- 2026
The HUMAN-AI-T manifesto
Seven principles for human-controlled AI are presented at Davos in January.
- 2026
A root of trust for AI
On 25 September the Quantum Root Key programme is extended to AI models, autonomous agents, devices and their human operators.
2026 to 2036
The decade the world changes its keys
Regulators have already fixed most of the dates. The work divides into three phases.
- 2026 to 2028Phase one
Distribution
Getting the quantum root into the world. Almost entirely adoption, audit and inventory rather than invention.
- Trust store inclusion of post-quantum roots, and CA/Browser Forum rules for issuing and auditing post-quantum certificates.
- Classical and post-quantum hierarchies operated in parallel, with hybrid certificates where needed.
- Migration guidance for subordinate CAs and for governments that use the root.
- Secure elements and TPMs shipping with ML-DSA and ML-KEM in hardware.
- 2028 to 2031Phase two
Extension
Identity for machines, agents and content, before they become the majority of authenticated actors.
- Agent credentials carrying issuer, operator, scope and expiry, verified before any transaction.
- Real-time revocation as the mechanism by which operators, regulators and courts stop an autonomous system.
- Signing at capture, in the camera, the sensor and the model.
- Trust anchors and revocation lists delivered by satellite where terrestrial networks cannot be relied on.
- 2031 to 2036Phase three
Retirement
Closing the classical era, measured by what stops existing.
- The classical hierarchy stops issuing, then stops being trusted, on a schedule aligned to 2035.
- At least one full change of post-quantum algorithm without regenerating the root.
- A verifiable difference between a person and a machine acting for a person, available everywhere.