The global skills and competency framework for the digital world

Using and licensing SFIA

Important: you need a licence to use SFIA

The SFIA Foundation maintains and distributes SFIA using a licensing system. For personal career development and for the majority of internal use for staff management, SFIA is available free of charge. Other use may require different licences which may incur a modest fee.

The following is prohibited without a special fee-bearing licence from the SFIA Foundation:

  • using SFIA to support the sale or marketing of a product or service
  • using SFIA for external certification or credentials
  • using SFIA to promote a company or organisation, including in rate cards, redistributing this material in electronic or printed form to any other organisation (even if affiliated)
  • using SFIA across a large distributed organisation
  • translating SFIA into another language or language variant and distributing that version

Separate licensing is available for large-scale SFIA use. This is particularly attractive where a country wishes to use the global common reference model of SFIA as the foundation of its wide-scale skills and competence initiatives. Licensing includes:

  • whole of public sector licence
  • whole of country licence

As a not-for-profit, the SFIA Foundation does not seek commercial gain over and above its subsistence needs.  All revenue received is used to develop, maintain and make available the framework and support the adoption by organisations and individuals around the world through the global ecosystem.  Our licensing terms reflect that our intellectual property does indeed have a value, so we seek its protection through a very modest fee arrangement for those who benefit commercially from its use. The Foundation doesn’t generate substantial revenue, and has a very modest operations capability supported by the users, trainers, consultants and partners of SFIA around the world.

The governance of the SFIA Foundation is provided by respected organisations or professional bodies and all information can be obtained from the SFIA web site – www.sfia-online.org

Intellectual property and copyright

SFIA is the intellectual property of the SFIA Foundation.

The trademark SFIA is protected in more than 35 countries throughout the world.

Copying of this material is prohibited unless authorised in writing or under a valid SFIA licence obtained from the SFIA Foundation.

The SFIA Foundation Ltd.  A private company limited by guarantee.  Registered in England number 04770377.
Registered Office: The Scalpel, 18th Floor, 52 Lime Street, London EC3M 7AF, UK