The Trust & Identity team at SURF has been researching Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) for several years. We conduct pilots so that we build knowledge and experience with SSI and wallets. With this knowledge, we support educational institutions in their IAM (Identity and Access Management) development and improve SURF services.
An important aspect of SSI is that users, such as students, decide for themselves what (educational) data they exchange and with whom. This data is needed to pursue an education and to use certain services. For example, proving that you are studying in order to gain access to student housing. Or being able to digitally present a degree to a future employer. A so-called “wallet” – a digital wallet containing personal data – helps students do this.
Technical experiment with wallets
One of the experiments within our SSI Lab is to develop such a wallet app. The goal is not to achieve a production-ready environment, but in particular to investigate what is involved in implementing wallets. For example, we investigated how realistic it is to develop a wallet app that connects to existing infrastructure. To this end, we used available technology: eduID, edubadges, Yivi and SURFconext.
Publication of findings
The experiment has now been completed and we are happy to share our findings with colleagues and external parties. The process of development and the findings have been incorporated into a publication (available in both English and Dutch). Some of you have already viewed the results during the webinar of March 8, which can be viewed on the SURF YouTube channel. The designs and source code can be found on the project wiki page. The outcomes offer starting points for further experimentation in projects such as ‘eduwallet’ in Npuls and the European Large Scale Pilot DC4EU.
Target audience
This report is written for everyone who is involved in managing data, wallets and the exchange of skills, micro-credentials and identity information. The report addresses the technological aspects as well as the outcomes, which have broader implications and are written accessibly.
On behalf of,
Niels van Dijk & Marlies Rikken (SURF)
