Enhancing Trusted Digital Credentials at the DC4EU Education Domain Workshop in Barcelona
On the 11th and 12th of February 2025, representatives of the DC4EU WP5 entities leading subtasks of Task 2 and Task 3 gathered in Barcelona for the project’s coordination workshop. These two days were crucial in aligning efforts towards trusted, interoperable, and scalable digital credentials within the European Digital Identity (EUDI) framework.
Key Discussions and Outcomes
- Piloting Agent Toolkit & User Journeys: A session led by ATOS/EVIDEN, presenting the Toolkit for Piloting Agents, which will be instrumental in testing real-world implementations. The team also explored user journeys for students, staff, and piloting agents, ensuring that digital credentials align with real-life needs.
- Scenarios for eIDAS and non-eIDAS use cases: A deep dive into Scenario 2 (TSPs: Trust Service Providers) showcased how classical PKI and decentralised PKI (dPKI) can be combined for a hybrid trust model. Discussions extended to Scenario 3 (Public Sector Bodies) and Scenario 4 (Qualified TSPs), focusing on their practical implications for electronic attestations of attributes (EAAs).
- How dPKI complements classical PKI for education and professional qualifications: Using Scenario 2 (TSPs) as a reference, DC4EU analysed how dPKI addresses the limitations of classical PKI and provides a comprehensive trust model that meets all business requirements for education and professional qualifications. The integration of decentralised trust frameworks ensures scalability, flexibility, and compliance with the evolving EUDI ecosystem.
- Hands-on exercises – TSP scenario implementation: A joint session focused on the practical implications of Tasks 2.1–2.5, covering onboarding of issuers, trusted lists, authorisation models, and the EAA catalogue. The participants addressed the challenge of linking DIDs and X.509 certificates to ensure a seamless integration of traditional and decentralised trust frameworks.
- Testing and deployment methodologies: On the second day, the team tackled user journey deployment methodology and a test methodology workshop, paving the way for structured evaluation and refinement of pilots.
- Next steps for WP5 and the consortium: DDC4EU plans to proceed with aligning piloting agents, refining trust models, and synchronising user journey deployments. A practical approach will be at the heart of the next phase, ensuring that the work translates into real-world impact.
The progress made in Barcelona marks a significant step forward in building a trusted ecosystem for digital credentials in Europe.
