Now, in its 15th year, more than 10,000 identity and service providers are connected through eduGAIN, with 84 member federations across the globe.
In the beginning
The development of eduGAIN started as a research activity in the GN2 Project in 2004, to address the need for connecting academia across Europe. During the GN3 Project, eduGAIN was piloted as a service, and on 27 April 2011, it officially became an operational service, with the German DFN-AAI (operated by DFN) and the Spanish SIR (operated by RedIRIS) as the first member federations to sign up. It went global in 2012 when the Canadian Access Federation (operated by CANARIE) and Brazilian CAFe (operated by RNP) joined.
Continuous growth and development
Initially, eduGAIN was mainly designed for the needs of higher education institutions. Soon research communities began to understand the potential use and impact of federated identity. This identified requirements and needs for which eduGAIN was not originally considered. The challenge was accepted by GÉANT and the federations, resulting in the FIM4R (Federated Identity Management for Research) paper, pilots with research communities, and subsequently the AARC (Authentication and Authorisation for Research and Collaboration) Blueprint Architecture, in which eduGAIN is a key component.
Built on eduGAIN and on the AARC framework, MyAccessID is among the latest developments in trusted identity for research and innovation, powering in combination with eduGAIN the EOSC EU node, the EOSC AAI Federation and access to EuroHPC through the EuroHPC Federation Platform.
Tending to the needs of student mobility and of the Erasmus+ programme, MyAcademicID was also developed in the context of the European Student Card Initiative, combining eIDAS and eduGAIN for authentication. This enables students to authenticate for their studies abroad using their home student account, considerably reducing the administrative workload on staff and students.
Getting ready for the future of digital identity
eduGAIN is currently built on SAML, a technology that has served the research and education community well for many years. Now, SAML is considered a legacy technology, and development has ceased. At the same time, OpenID Connect 1.0 and OAuth 2.0 are the current industry standards, but they lack a scalable way to establish trust. As part of the GN5-2 project, the eduGAIN service is currently running a pilot to test how OpenID Federation can be used as the future trust technology for eduGAIN, alongside the existing SAML infrastructure.
The OpenID Federation specification is already used for the national eID in Italy and has been tested for the EUDI wallet. By integrating eduGAIN into the EUDI Wallet using OpenID Federation, the EUDI Wallet can be introduced into the European research and education ecosystem without disrupting the federated infrastructure that underpins it. This approach is recommended in the final report from the DC4EU project, and it allows Europe to build on what already works, accelerate adoption, and reinforce digital sovereignty in the research and education sector for years to come.
