Open Knowledge & Knowledge Infrastructure
Open knowledge architectures, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, ontologies, knowledge graphs, schemas, multilingual knowledge environments, provenance models and machine-readable knowledge infrastructure.
QBF Consulting LLP
Knowledge should be open. Trust should be verifiable. Governance should work.
QBF Consulting is a research, advisory and digital governance practice working across open knowledge, digital trust, artificial intelligence, standards, governance and assurance.
Where knowledge and trust converge
Digital systems increasingly determine how knowledge is produced, discovered and used; how people and organisations establish trust; and how institutions exercise authority.
We research complex systems, make their assumptions visible, and develop the frameworks, architectures and knowledge infrastructure needed to make them more open, understandable, interoperable and trustworthy.
The boundary between knowledge infrastructure and trust infrastructure is disappearing. Registries establish authority. Credentials carry claims. Standards define shared behaviour. AI systems consume knowledge whose provenance, permissions and authority increasingly shape what they are permitted to do.
What we do
Research & Publication
Research papers, policy briefs, working papers, landscape studies, ecosystem analyses, explainers and reusable public knowledge products that others can examine, challenge, cite, extend and build upon.
Digital Trust & Verifiable Systems
Digital identifiers, credentials, registries, directories, provenance systems and trust frameworks, with attention to authority, meaning, lifecycle, status and relying-party decisions.
Governance & Institutional Architecture
Governance models, institutional roles, accountability boundaries, lifecycle rules, decision rights, oversight and redress, especially where policy begins shaping system behaviour.
Assurance & Resilience
Assurance frameworks, control models, threat models, risk taxonomies, maturity assessments and structured evaluations for testing whether systems continue to satisfy intended properties.
Standards & Interoperability
Specification analysis, reference architectures, implementation guidance, standards mappings and cross-specification assurance that expose assumptions visible only when multiple systems meet.
Artificial Intelligence & Agentic Systems
Knowledge provenance, authority, delegation, identity, machine-readable policy, agent registries, interoperability, assurance, lifecycle, revocation and redress for increasingly autonomous systems.
Digital Public & Trust Infrastructure
Institutional and technical foundations for large-scale digital interaction, examined as both technology and institutions: who operates them, what authority they exercise and how decisions can be challenged.
How we work
Make knowledge reusable
Research and documentation should create assets that continue to generate value beyond an individual engagement.
Make assumptions visible
We surface the undocumented assumptions complex systems depend upon and examine what happens when they cross technical, organisational or jurisdictional boundaries.
Separate evidence from authority
A technical system can demonstrate that something happened without determining what that event should mean. We keep evidence, authority, governance and reliance distinct.
Test important claims
If a system claims to be trustworthy, resilient, privacy-preserving or interoperable, we look for ways to make those properties observable and testable.
Work in the open where possible
We favour open standards, research, software and reusable knowledge artefacts where openness improves transparency, scrutiny, interoperability and shared capacity.
Areas of focus
Open Knowledge · Knowledge Infrastructure · Language Technology · Digital Trust · Digital Identity & Identifiers · Registries & Directories · Verifiable Systems · Privacy & Data Governance · Artificial Intelligence · Agentic Systems · Digital Public Infrastructure · Standards & Interoperability · Governance · Assurance & Resilience
These areas increasingly intersect. The systems that organise knowledge determine what can be discovered. The systems that establish provenance influence what can be believed. The systems that establish authority determine what can be relied upon. Governance determines what happens when things change or go wrong.
Knowledge that can travel. Trust that can be examined.
As knowledge becomes increasingly machine-readable and digital systems increasingly act upon it, openness alone is not enough. We also need provenance, interpretation, governance and assurance.
Make knowledge reusable. Make authority legible. Make trust testable.
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