Printed Electronics Now staff09.30.20
The introduction of trusted digital identities that can be used throughout the EU is an important step on the road to European digital sovereignty.
These digital identities must be successfully accepted and widely used by citizens.
Businesses, in particular, can help to achieve this by ensuring that digital identities can be used securely and also by using them in their services.
At the European Digital Identity Roundtable held in Berlin, representatives of the German EU Council Presidency, in particular, from the Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, of the European Commission and other European institutions, such as ENISA, as well as Member States came together with leading users and providers to discuss European initiatives and strategies to create a framework for European digital identities.
The European Digital Identity Roundtable is a new format for exchange between European decision-makers, trust service providers and companies whose future business models are based on secure digital identities.
This roundtable was initiated by the European Signature Dialog, a platform of leading European providers of electronic signatures, and Bundesdruckerei GmbH, the IT security company of the German Federal Government.
The kick-off event took place in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community.
“It is the responsibility of European industry to help strengthen the European digital single market and to invest in our common European future,” said Dr. Stefan Hofschen, CEO of Bundesdruckerei, in his opening speech.
Trusted digital identities that can be used independent of economic interests in the online world are a cornerstone of our digital sovereignty.
“Like in the analog world, all citizens must be able to identify themselves in the digital space – quickly, easily and securely," said Dr. Markus Richter, State secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community and Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology. "We therefore advocate EU-interoperable, trusted and privacy-sensitive solutions for user-friendly digital identification. In this context, we support the cooperative implementation and further development of the eIDAS regulation. Our goal is to create a future-proof European legal framework for digital identities together with our European partners.”
The European Digital Identity Roundtable focused on the potential that European digital identities could offer in terms of digital sovereignty. In working groups, the attendees addressed the central challenges and discussed how the existing legal framework could be adapted, for instance, by implementing and updating the eIDAS regulation.
Co-initiators Dr. Kim Nguyen, managing director of D TRUST GmbH, and Michael Butz, CEO of A Trust GmbH and chairman of the European Signature Dialog, emphasized the special importance of secure digital identities: “The basis for successfully shaping Europe’s digital future is trust. We must ensure that data is protected when EU citizens engage online: Digital identities must pave the way for a relationship of trust in the digital space.”