FENTEC · Project

Encryption That Lets You Analyze Data Without Ever Seeing It

digitalTestedTRL 5

Imagine you could run calculations on someone's private data — like checking if a payment is legitimate or counting how many people visited a store — without ever actually seeing the data itself. That's what functional encryption does: it lets you get useful answers from encrypted information without unlocking the whole thing. FENTEC built working software libraries and three prototypes that apply this to digital payments, anonymous statistics, and secure IoT communication. Think of it as giving someone a locked box where they can shake it to count the coins inside, but never open the lid.

By the numbers

working prototypes built (digital currency, anonymous analytics, IoT key distribution)

consortium partners across 8 countries

total project deliverables produced

demo deliverables (first + final versions of each prototype)

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies today face an impossible choice: either keep data encrypted and useless, or decrypt it and risk privacy breaches and regulatory violations. This is especially painful in financial services (where auditors need transaction visibility but users demand privacy), in data analytics (where GDPR restricts what you can compute on personal data), and in IoT (where distributing encryption keys to millions of devices is a logistical nightmare). The business cost of getting this wrong ranges from GDPR fines to competitive disadvantage from not being able to use your own data.

The solution

What was built

The project built a public functional encryption software library for both software and hardware applications, plus 3 fully implemented prototypes: a privacy-enhanced digital currency system with flexible auditing, an anonymous data collection tool that computes statistics on encrypted data, and an IoT key distribution system for securing communication among large numbers of connected devices. All 3 prototypes went through first-version testing and final specification-compliant implementation across 44 deliverables.

Audience

Who needs this

Payment processors and fintech companies building privacy-compliant digital currency or audit systemsData analytics firms that need to compute on sensitive personal data without GDPR exposureIoT platform providers struggling with secure key distribution at scaleBanks and financial regulators exploring privacy-preserving transaction monitoringHealthcare or insurance companies needing aggregate statistics from encrypted patient or claims data

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Financial Services & Digital Payments

enterprise

Target: Payment processors, fintech companies, central banks exploring digital currencies

If you are a payment processor or fintech company dealing with the tension between transaction privacy and regulatory auditing requirements — this project developed a privacy-enhanced digital currency prototype that enforces flexible auditing models. It allows authorized parties to verify compliance on encrypted transactions without exposing user identities or full transaction details, helping you meet both privacy regulations and anti-money-laundering obligations.

Data Analytics & Market Research

any

Target: Analytics firms, healthcare data processors, insurance companies

If you are a data analytics company that needs to compute statistics over sensitive personal data — this project built an anonymous data collection prototype that enables computation of statistics over encrypted datasets. Your clients keep full control of their raw data while you still extract the aggregate insights you need, directly addressing GDPR compliance challenges around data minimization.

IoT & Connected Devices

mid-size

Target: IoT platform providers, smart home companies, industrial IoT integrators

If you are an IoT platform provider struggling with secure key distribution across thousands or millions of devices — this project delivered a final IoT key distribution prototype designed for establishing secure communication among a vast number of IoT devices. It improves performance and efficiency of content and key distribution, reducing the overhead that currently makes end-to-end encryption impractical at IoT scale.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or integrate this encryption technology?

The project produced a functional encryption library documented and made public for use by European ICT entities. As an open library from a publicly funded RIA project, the core software is likely available under open-source or permissive licensing terms. Integration costs would depend on your specific use case and the engineering effort to adapt one of the 3 prototypes.

Can this work at industrial scale with millions of transactions or devices?

The IoT key distribution prototype was specifically designed for secure communication among a vast amount of IoT devices, suggesting scalability was a design goal. The project ran for over 3 years with 11 partners and produced 44 deliverables, including final implementations of all 3 prototypes. However, real-world stress testing at full production scale would need to be validated for your specific deployment.

Who owns the intellectual property and can I use it commercially?

The project was coordinated by ATOS SPAIN SA, a major IT services company, with 3 industry partners in the 11-member consortium. As an EU-funded RIA project, the library was explicitly intended to be made public for European ICT entities. Specific licensing terms should be confirmed with the coordinator, but the intent was broad availability.

Does this help with GDPR and data protection compliance?

Yes — the anonymous data analytics use case was explicitly designed to protect European Fundamental Rights of Data Protection and Privacy. By computing statistics on encrypted data, you avoid processing personal data in the clear, which directly supports GDPR principles of data minimization and privacy by design.

How mature are the prototypes — are they production-ready?

All 3 prototypes went through two development cycles: a first version for testing and a final implementation adhering to strict specifications. The project produced 44 deliverables total across its 3-year run. These are tested prototypes, not production systems — expect additional engineering for deployment in a live environment.

Can this integrate with our existing encryption infrastructure?

The project's primary output was a functional encryption library for both software and hardware-oriented applications. This library-based approach is designed for integration into existing ICT products and services. The 3 prototypes demonstrate concrete integration patterns for payments, analytics, and IoT respectively.

Consortium

Who built it

The FENTEC consortium of 11 partners across 8 European countries combines strong academic cryptography expertise (5 universities) with real industry pull from 3 industrial partners including coordinator ATOS SPAIN SA, one of Europe's largest IT services companies. The 27% industry ratio and presence of 2 SMEs indicates a research-heavy project with enough commercial grounding to keep outputs practical. Having ATOS as coordinator — a company that actually deploys enterprise IT solutions — is a strong signal that the encryption library was built with real-world integration in mind, not just academic publication. The geographic spread across Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Slovenia, and the UK provides broad European market knowledge.

ATOS SPAIN SACoordinator · ES
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTOparticipant · FI
XLAB RAZVOJ PROGRAMSKE OPREME IN SVETOVANJE DOOparticipant · SI
ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEUREparticipant · FR
ATOS IT SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES IBERIA SLthirdparty · ES
HOCHSCHULE FLENSBURGparticipant · DE
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRSthirdparty · FR
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVENparticipant · BE
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGHparticipant · UK

How to reach the team

ATOS SPAIN SA coordinated this project — reach out to their cybersecurity or R&D division for licensing and integration discussions.

Order a report on this consortium See ATOS SPAIN SA profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how FENTEC's functional encryption library could solve your data privacy challenges? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the project team and help assess fit for your use case.

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