The "SSI for Germany" consortium has started the operation of a decentralized network for digital identities on Friday, August 21, 2020. The network will initially be operated as a test network of eight different nodes and will be expanded to 15 nodes within the next month. In the future, the decentralized identity network is to be managed by a European cooperative under the name "IDunion", which will be open to partners throughout Europe.
The "SSI for Germany" consortium is an association of public and private institutions that have set themselves the goal of establishing an open ecosystem for identity management in Europe. The consortium's solution is based on open standards and open source technology and is particularly characterized by data economy and transparency. The solution enables users to manage their identity information themselves and decide when and with whom they want to share it. The consortium also evaluates industrial scenarios that consider the identities of machines, vehicles and IoT devices. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) as part of the competition phase of the innovation competition "Showcase Secure Digital Identities". The consortium is currently led by Main Incubator GmbH.
"We are proud to be able to bring our technical expertise and many years of SSI experience to this flagship project with such great partners," commented Dr. André Kudra, CIO of esatus AG. "The whole Self-Sovereign Identity Team of esatus AG supports 'SSI for Germany' with the greatest commitment. With special thanks to our Blockchain Lead Developer, Christopher Hempel, who managed the Launch Ceremony professionally".
The video of the network start is available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iitNRjdtQ84
Kudra and esatus AG are looking to move forward: "We are looking forward to the next steps together with the consortium partners. We will now quickly provide them with our Enterprise Identity & Access Management solution in the test network".
The consortium consists of Bundesdruckerei GmbH, esatus AG, Main Incubator GmbH (consortium leader), Robert Bosch GmbH and Technische Universität Berlin.
Associated partners include Bank-Verlag GmbH, Commerzbank AG, Creditreform Boniversum GmbH, Deutsche Bahn AG, GS1 Germany GmbH, Festo SE & Co. KG, ING Deutschland (ING-DiBa AG), Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Innovation, Digitalisierung und Energie des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, regio iT GmbH, Siemens AG, Stadt Köln, Telekom Innovation Laboratories (Deutsche Telekom AG), Verband der Vereine Creditreform e.V.