DC4EU Kickoff ceremony successfully completed in Madrid with more than 100 participants

More than 100 DC4EU partners gathered in person for the project’s kickoff ceremony at the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid on the 26th of May. The event started with the opening speech by the project coordinator, SGAD, the General Secretary for Digital Administration’s of the Ministry of Spain, and continued with the welcome notes by DG Connect from the European Commission and was followed by a panel discussion organised with the members of the project’s Strategic Committee. The discussions focused on how the project will maximise opportunities to leverage, test and scale up pre-existing technologies and protocols in the education and social security domains from relevant flagship EU projects.

Topics covered how DC4EU doesn’t focus on higher education certificates only but on lifelong learning and micro-credentials on knowledge or competencies. DC4EU aims to make everyday life on campus while ensuring trust.

What happens when sharing information with private stakeholders? What are the concerns around the usage and disclosure of personal data? As DC4EU is GDPR compliant, end-users will have control of the attributes shared.

Members of the DC4EU Strategic Committee suggest not trying to reinvent the wheel. Reuse, learn from the past, evolve and work for a better future for cross-domain trust and not leave anyone behind. That’s what standards, open source, and open communities are for, and DC4EU is identifying new opportunities.

There is more to come on social security. Our daily life is not just about learning. It is also about workers and their life until retirement, when they will enjoy the beauty of life, including healthcare, pension, payslips, etc. DC4EU aims to address all of this in their large-scale pilots.

The project is not just about technology. It is about business and users and what benefits the community. DC4EU will position itself as a decision-maker in this ecosystem.

The kickoff ceremony closed with the closing speech by the project coordinator. The hybrid event was streamed by around 100 project partners online supporting the objectives and large-scale pilots of DC4EU.