Work Package 5 from Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU) hosted a productive workshop in Oslo on the 3rd and 4th of December. This two-day event convened key stakeholders to advance governance, technical frameworks, and piloting processes for the issuance, recognition, and verification of educational and professional qualifications across borders. Discussions focused on innovative tools and concepts, such as Electronic Attestations of Attributes (EAAs) at the sectoral level, to streamline credentialing processes in alignment with European Union policies.

The first day centred on the vision and governance structures necessary to establish a Machine-readable governance supporting existing governance(s) at the Member State level, and legally compliant frameworks for qualifications. The discussions emphasized the importance of harmonizing processes across EU member states while accounting for the unique governance systems of each country. Sectoral catalogue of Electronic Attestations of Attributes (EAAs), as well as a Sectoral rulebook for educational and professional qualifications (how to issue, share and verify), emerged as a cornerstone of the initiative. These legally binding credentials establish rights and obligations that must be preserved over time, maintain verifiability throughout their lifecycle, and ensure compliance with cross-border legal frameworks. Additionally, Spain was presented as a case study for its multi-layered governance system, highlighting mechanisms for validating institutional identity and operational capacity in cross-border recognition processes. Comparisons were drawn to centralized systems, such as those in Sweden, and dual-governance models like Portugal’s. The session underscored the need to connect accreditation agencies and government databases for seamless digital diploma verification, fostering trust and interoperability.

The workshop also delved into frameworks for higher education accreditation, including the Bologna Process and European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) for quality assurance. Institutional accreditation, which assesses an institution’s capacity to deliver quality education, was distinguished from program accreditation, which evaluates specific degrees for alignment with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and subject-specific standards.

Categories for EAAs were outlined, including educational evidence such as enrolment and credit records, vocational certifications, and sector-specific credentials. Professional qualifications, such as licenses for regulated professions and technical skill certificates, were also prioritized. The importance of linking credentials to stable, verifiable sources using Person Identifiers (PIDs) was emphasized, with feedback sought to refine the catalogue and incorporate national use cases. PID (contained in the EUDI Wallet) as a new identity means harmonised across Europe, enables harmonised ways to provide identity proving with a proper level for assurance for students/professionals’ onboarding in education/professional qualifications, as well as for request and issuance of official academic/professional achievements.

On the second day, attention shifted to tools and scenarios for piloting agents. The DC4EU-Edu application was introduced as a central platform for managing the issuance, verification, and sharing of credentials, compliant with eIDAS and GDPR standards. Its functionalities include credential issuance, secure sharing through eIDAS-compliant wallets, lifecycle management (including revocation and suspension), and privacy-preserving verification. The platform’s technical infrastructure integrates authentication and role management via Keycloak, dedicated databases for identity and credentials, and REST APIs for system interoperability. Privacy mechanisms, such as a disintermediation proxy, further enhance user data protection.

Piloting agents explored workflows for integrating tools with national systems, including pre-loading data, configuring API endpoints, and providing structured support and training for agents, staff, and students. Open discussions raised important topics such as selective disclosure mechanisms to ensure users share only the necessary credential details, safeguards against excessive data requests in wallets, and additional functionalities required for deployment. Timelines were established for piloting agents to implement and refine these systems.

The Oslo workshop marked a significant step forward in fostering collaboration and innovation for cross-border recognition of qualifications. The workshop concluded with several key takeaways. Aligning governance and technical frameworks with EU initiatives while considering national variations is essential. Simplifying digital identities by linking credentials to verifiable, privacy-preserving sources remains a priority. Incorporating feedback from national use cases will refine the systems further, while interoperability and compliance must be ensured through rulebooks, trusted lists, and data models.

DC4EU WP6 is piloting the issuing, revocation, delegation and verification of Electronic Attestations of Attributes issues by or on behalf of public bodies.
This is an important part of DC4EU’s work to make the verification process for social security streamlined and fully digital, leveraging the EUDI Wallet and the eIDAS 2.0 framework to ensure efficiency, reliability, and compliance. Rigorous testing and piloting ensure a smooth transition to digital attestations and identity verification.

On October 25, the DC4EU team visited a school class in Vienna, where we introduced the project and demonstrated the digital verification process for Personal Identity Data (PID) and the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to the students. As part of this introduction, the students successfully installed a demo wallet and onboarded these credentials, creating a seamless and enjoyable experience. Their enthusiasm throughout this process was truly inspiring!

Following this, on November 8, the students embarked on an Erasmus Plus Project to Brussels. During the Sickness and AWOD AHG meeting in Brussels, we conducted thorough verifications of the credentials. Our dedicated partners from DC4EU were present to support this process as verifiers.

We successfully verified 20 EHICs and Personal Identity Data (PIDs) without issues, reinforcing our commitment to quality and reliability. Although we encountered three revoked EHICs, it also provided an opportunity to showcase the digital revocation process to the students.

Overall, the students enjoyed the digital verification experience, demonstrating that digital processes can be straightforward and accessible for young people.

We are thrilled to share the highlights from our recent workshop hosted by the National Health Fund (NFZ) in Warsaw, Poland. With about 50 participants attending in person and 35 joining remotely, the event was a great success, fostering insightful discussions and collaborative activities over two days.

Day 1: 12th September 2024
The workshop began with a warm welcome from Marek Augustyn, Vice President of NFZ, and Kinga Beda, Director of the International Affairs Department. Gerd Bauer, the DC4EU WP6 Coordinator, introduced the workshop, setting the stage for the day’s activities.

The morning session featured the first Poster Exhibition presented by the DC4EU WP6 Core Group, providing a platform for participants to engage with various topics related to the project. After a lunch break, Thomas Ebbinghaus from the DC4EU Core Group presented the roadmap for implementation.

In the afternoon, participants engaged in an interactive game using the wallet in a verification challenge, which provided a hands-on learning experience, the day concluded with a wrap-up session, summarising the key takeaways and setting the tone for the next day. To cap off the first day, a voluntary networking dinner was held in a traditional Polish restaurant, providing an informal setting for further discussions and networking.

Day 2: 13th September 2024
The second day of the workshop began with an introduction by Gerd Bauer, reiterating the goals of the project. Katharina Hilmar, the DC4EU WP6 Business Lead led a session on the Large Scale Piloting (LSP) and international meetings, providing valuable insights into the broader context of the projects.

The workshop continued with a session on Embedded Disclosure Policy and Questionnaire results, presented by Gerd Bauer and Lars Ilsoe from the DC4EU Core Group. This session delved into the findings and implications of recent surveys and policies, related to executing the LSPs. After a lunch break, the focus shifted to piloting use cases, specifically Telework and EHIC Simulation. This session, led by Katharina Hilmar and Jeroen Jansen from Vecozo, provided practical examples and discussions on implementing these use cases. The afternoon session featured an interactive discussion where all participants collaborated on drafting use cases for piloting, fostering a collaborative and hands-on approach to problem-solving. The workshop concluded with a wrap-up and next-steps session, summarising the outcomes and outlining future actions.

At the workshop, the team conducted a Demo-Wallet game to showcase the basic capabilities of the Demo-Wallet for obtaining, storing, and presenting documents. This provided participants with a deeper understanding of piloting in practice.

The Demo-Wallet game began with each participant initialising their demo wallet by creating a user account with the wallet provider and onboarding their digital base identity (Personal Identification Data, PID) via a demo PID provider. Participants then followed instructions for their initial mission. Various stations were set up around the room to complete the user journey missions. At each station, participants encountered different verifiers (played by fellow participants) and received a follow-up mission until all tasks were completed. For example, in a user journey, you might move to another country for work, such as Barcelona, Spain. At your workplace station in Barcelona, you needed to present and get your PID and PD A1 verified. Later, if you need access to healthcare services during your temporary stay in Barcelona, a healthcare provider will ask for and verify your digital EHIC and check your identity electronically. A positive evaluation of your credentials would ensure that you receive healthcare services under the same conditions and at the same cost (free in some countries) as persons insured in Spain.

DC4EU project partners, Sinead Nealon from the ECCA – European Campus Card Association and Tor Fridell from Ladok hosted a workshop entitled ‘How do cards fit in a wallet environment’ at the ECCA annual conference in Milan, Italy on the 15th to 17th of May 2024. The event was attended by 115 people from 20 countries.

The workshop provided an ideal platform for all the relevant stakeholders to provide input and the panel included representatives from the Erasmus Student Network (Lorenzo Mazzeo), HEIs (Alexander Loechel Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Service Providers (Henry Kliegel KUARIO) and Google (Mikhail Strunkin).

The discussion focused on how a digital wallet can benefit students by enabling secure access to information and services. It was agreed that the provision of a safe, reliable, and privacy-enhancing means of digital identification will be easily accepted by the students, as they are digitally native. The EUDI wallet will be a game changer putting all these requirements under one simple and single solution.

New and emerging online educational processes will require new solutions. Data security and identity assurance are necessities in the new education ecosystem, especially for the evaluation process. The Digital Credentials For Europe (DC4EU) project will help in the delivery of a new interoperable environment in education and social security.