Digital Identity

Group Lead: Portugal

Established in 2015 at the second Ministerial Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, member countries agreed to the formation of a new thematic group on Digital Identity.

_ Purpose of the Group

The purpose of the group is to promote the benefits of sound digital identity concepts and implementation, in the Digital Nations members countries, for digital transformation in government, delivering better services to the public and promoting social growth. The concept is sharing knowledge and experience between the delegates from the member states, based on the agenda that will be derived from the preferences and priorities of the group.

The group will:

• Prepare focused data resources describing the status of the digital identity in each state.

• Demonstrate and present Proof of Concepts demonstrations to the steering committee, and later to the large audience in other countries.

• Promote continuous discussions between the members in order to assist and support Digital Nations members in their digital identity journey.

_ Context

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The area of Digital Identity continues to develop rapidly. We will continue to have a key role in sharing learnings on the range of approaches and new technologies as they emerge (Blockchain, Decentralized Identifiers - DIDs, Quantum Computing, Vectors of Trust, Domains of Identity, etcetera).

_ Key Questions and Issues to Consider

The different countries in the group will form smaller groups to run practical tests on trust relationships and report results to the other countries.

The group will:

• Approach the EU to seek a better understanding of the formal mechanisms that the EU uses to recognize alignment of non-EU countries, and discuss these aspects within the group.

• Discuss identification of business (not only natural persons) and compare methods.

• Prepare a document regarding the mapping of country schemes. The Blockcerts Students Pilot - report on the pilot initiative by Canada and New Zealand.

• Explore usage of government digital credentials in the private sector, and vice versa.