DC4EU

From April 2023 to spring 2025, SURF, with several Dutch higher education institutions and DUO, participated in the Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU) consortium. In this partnership, more than 100 organisations from 25 countries worked on the development of the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet): a system for the secure exchange of official documents such as digital diplomas, microcredentials, but also, for example, your driving licence. For Dutch students, this means an easier registration process for educational experiences in other European countries.

Why is this important?

Currently, the exchange of diplomas and other certificates, such as microcredentials, is often labour-intensive, susceptible to fraud and gives learners little control over their own data. DC4EU is therefore developing an ecosystem in which users, through the EUDI Wallet, control with whom they share what data. Thanks to Self-sovereign Identity (SSI), age verification, for example, no longer requires a passport photo or date of birth, but only confirmation that someone is above a certain age. This fits seamlessly with SURF's commitment, together with its members, to public values and digital sovereignty.

Public values

An ecosystem is therefore being developed within DC4EU that enables digital exchange of diplomas and microcredentials, through the European Digital Identity Wallet. This system uses Self-sovereign identity (SSI) technology, allowing users to be in control of their data and decide with whom to share which data. For example, for age verification, it is no longer necessary to share your passport photo and date of birth, but proof that you are above a certain age will suffice. This dovetails perfectly with the public values of the spearhead common digital sovereignty that SURF is pursuing with its members to make concrete work of public values.

SURF's contribution

Within DC4EU, SURF made both technical and substantive contributions:

Credential Converter

Together with Impierce Technologies, SURF developed an open source tool that converts existing digital credentials to the European Learning Model (ELM) format.

Trusted Lists pilot

SURF coordinated the pilot in which more than ten institutions participated in a federated test environment hosted by Sunet and GUnet. This environment forms an important alternative within the Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF) of the EUDI Wallet, alongside the blockchain-based EBSI model.

Coordination of Dutch participation

Together with DUO, SURF organised the Dutch input in the pilot, with active participation from four higher education institutions (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Saxion, University of Amsterdam and University of Twente). In total, over 150 test subjects participated with which the Netherlands provided one of the larger test groups.

Deepening the content

SURF contributed an academic paper arguing that integration of eduGAIN into the EUDI Wallet via OpenID Federation offers opportunities for the education and research sector as well as wider adoption. Read the paper

European context

In March 2024, the Council of the European Union approved the eIDAS 2.0 regulation, which extends the application possibilities of the European digital identity card. eIDAS stands for electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services. The regulation sets out a new legal framework for a secure and trustworthy European digital wallet. With it, all European citizens will have their identification cards available digitally, usable in all European countries.

Large Scale Pilots

DC4EU is part of the European Large Scale Pilots (LSPs). These are large-scale collaborations in which governments, companies and institutions from different Member States test innovative technologies in practice. They act as proof of concept and show how solutions work in realistic situations and what technical, legal and organisational conditions are needed to apply them widely. Thus, LSPs provide valuable insights that contribute to reliable and interoperable European facilities.