Berlin-based foundation providing distributed ledger technology for IoT security, energy markets, and trusted data exchange in EU research projects.
IOTA Stiftung (the IOTA Foundation) develops distributed ledger technology (DLT) designed for the Internet of Things, providing feeless, scalable, and secure data and value transfer infrastructure. In H2020 projects, they contribute their DLT expertise to enable trust, traceability, and decentralized coordination across sectors — from securing e-commerce supply chains and IoT device networks to enabling energy market transactions in smart cities. Their core contribution is bringing production-grade distributed ledger solutions into applied research contexts where data integrity, accountability, and machine-to-machine communication are critical.
DLT/blockchain features centrally in ENSURESEC (distributed ledgers for e-commerce security), SECANT (distributed ledger for IoT trust), Dig_IT (blockchain for mining sustainability), and CityxChange (energy market transactions).
ENSURESEC (cyber-physical security, formal methods), SECANT (IoT security, trust and accountability), and aspects of Dig_IT (compliance labelling) all address security and trust.
CityxChange focused on positive energy districts, energy-as-a-service (eMaaS), and community engagement in smart cities — their largest funded project at EUR 470K.
Dig_IT applied blockchain and digital twin technology to sustainable mining operations with predictive maintenance and smart scheduling.
ORCHESTRA (2021-2024) addressed multimodal transport coordination, resilience engineering, and connected autonomous vehicles — a newer direction for the foundation.
IOTA Stiftung's early H2020 involvement (2018-2020) centered on applying their DLT to energy markets, smart cities, and industrial sustainability — domains where trusted data exchange creates immediate value. From 2020 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward cybersecurity: securing e-commerce ecosystems, protecting IoT devices, and building trust frameworks using distributed ledgers. The transport sector entry with ORCHESTRA in 2021 suggests a broadening into critical infrastructure resilience, combining their security and DLT capabilities.
IOTA Stiftung is moving from general-purpose DLT applications toward specialized security and trust infrastructure for critical systems — IoT, transport, and e-commerce — making them increasingly relevant for projects requiring verifiable, tamper-proof data exchange.
IOTA Stiftung operates exclusively as a consortium participant, never as coordinator, which is consistent with their role as a specialized technology provider brought in to contribute DLT infrastructure. With 111 unique partners across 23 countries in just 5 projects, they work in large, diverse consortia (averaging 22+ partners per project). This means they are experienced at integrating into complex multi-partner environments and delivering modular technology components that plug into broader system architectures.
Despite only 5 projects, IOTA Stiftung has built a remarkably wide network of 111 unique partners across 23 countries, reflecting their participation in large pan-European consortia. Their network spans energy, security, transport, and environment sectors with no strong geographic concentration beyond a broad European reach.
IOTA Stiftung is one of very few non-profit foundations that brings production-grade distributed ledger technology specifically designed for IoT into EU research consortia. Unlike academic DLT researchers, they offer an actual technology platform (the IOTA Tangle) that can be integrated and tested within project timelines. For consortium builders, they fill a rare niche: a credible, non-commercial DLT provider that can contribute both the technology and the expertise to apply it across energy, security, and industrial domains.
