The POTENTIAL Consortium, which received funding for the project from the European Commission, will develop six Use Cases for the future digital wallet: ‘Electronic Government services’, ‘Account opening’, ‘SIM registration’, ‘Mobile Driving Licence’, ‘Remote Qualified Electronic Signature’, and ‘Electronic Prescription’. Estonia is participating in the development of a technical solution for testing a Mobile Driving Licence under the leadership of the Information System Authority (RIA).
‘Participation by the POTENTIAL Consortium in the project gives Estonia the opportunity to contribute to the implementation of a cross-border Mobile Driving Licence and gives Member States a common experience on how to make the verification of the validity of the driving licence and the right to drive digital,’ said Riho Kurg, architect of the Electronic Identity Department of the Information System Authority. ‘In Estonia, we are used to not having to carry a driving license, but in Europe there is nothing to do with this knowledge; and even domestically there are situations when you still need a driving license in physical form – for example, to take a photo of it in order to rent a car through an app’, he said. From Estonia, the Transport Administration and the companies Bolt and Citybee are also involved in the project.
POTENTIAL is one of four pilot projects supported by the European Commission to develop and test the possibilities of the EU Digital Identity Wallet to enable the daily operations of individuals and businesses. The European Commission is investing a total of EUR 46 million from the Digital Europe Programme to test and strengthen the EU Digital Identity Wallet. The pilot projects will test the entire electronic identity ecosystem, from the issuing of the Digital Identity Wallet to the user, the adding of personal data and supporting documents, to transmitting this information to various service providers.
The Mobile Driving Licence pilot project will last for two years, and in parallel with this, the Information System Authority will start developing the Estonian Digital Identity Wallet, in which the existing possibilities of our digital state can be combined with new cross-border solutions. ‘Keeping abreast of developments in all relevant technologies and standards is the key to our involvement in the project, along with supporting the creation of the Estonian Digital Identity Wallet ecosystem. We can use the results created within the framework of the pilot projects and, together with the private sector, find solutions that would not exclude Estonia from development upon the arrival of the pan-European Digital Identity Wallet, but instead use them as a complement to our existing digital ecosystem,’ Kurg noted.
The aim of the EU Digital Identity Wallet is to enable cross-border identity verification, the sharing of electronic documents and the use of various services. It will not replace existing national electronic identity solutions; instead, the European Commission will develop an open-source prototype of the Digital Identity Wallet, on the basis of which each Member State will develop for its citizens a Digital Identity Wallet application based on its own electronic identity solution, which will be recognised across Europe. Introduction of the Digital Identity Wallet in Europe is planned from 2026.
