Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy
The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is a major policy initiative of the EU and European Blockchain Partnership, to leverage blockchain to create cross-border services for public administrations, businesses, citizens, and their ecosystems, to verify information and increase trust i...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Big Data and Cognitive Computing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/7/2/79 |
| _version_ | 1797596139245010944 |
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| author | Evrim Tan Ellen Lerouge Jan Du Caju Daniël Du Seuil |
| author_facet | Evrim Tan Ellen Lerouge Jan Du Caju Daniël Du Seuil |
| author_sort | Evrim Tan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is a major policy initiative of the EU and European Blockchain Partnership, to leverage blockchain to create cross-border services for public administrations, businesses, citizens, and their ecosystems, to verify information and increase trust in services. The EBSI aims to provide a secure and interoperable system infrastructure, utilizing new digital technologies such as digital wallets, verifiable credentials, and decentralized identifiers. These technologies are expected to change the way government services are organized between citizens and service providers. This article presents empirical findings from a cross-border pilot that was the first case to utilize this new blockchain infrastructure, and which tested the institutional, technical, and user-specific requirements for wider adoption. The pilot tested and assessed the verification of education credentials through the EBSI blockchain in a cross-border setting between a Belgian and an Italian university. The research was based on action research with the ICT units of the participating universities, wallet solution providers, the Belgian government, and EBSI officials. The findings highlight the following as key challenges for the wider adoption of the EBSI and verification credential use case: (1) onboarding of the EBSI ecosystem governance, (2) issuance of EBSI-compliant digital wallets and data schemes for transcript validation, (3) interoperability issues concerning digital identity systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:47:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f9fa41f10df44ba8bda3543291e2a8aa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-2289 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:47:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Big Data and Cognitive Computing |
| spelling | doaj.art-f9fa41f10df44ba8bda3543291e2a8aa2023-11-18T09:18:28ZengMDPI AGBig Data and Cognitive Computing2504-22892023-04-01727910.3390/bdcc7020079Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and ItalyEvrim Tan0Ellen Lerouge1Jan Du Caju2Daniël Du Seuil3Public Governance Institute (PGI), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, BelgiumKU Leuven ICTS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumKU Leuven ICTS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumCity of Gent/European Blockchain Partnership, 9000 Gent, BelgiumThe European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is a major policy initiative of the EU and European Blockchain Partnership, to leverage blockchain to create cross-border services for public administrations, businesses, citizens, and their ecosystems, to verify information and increase trust in services. The EBSI aims to provide a secure and interoperable system infrastructure, utilizing new digital technologies such as digital wallets, verifiable credentials, and decentralized identifiers. These technologies are expected to change the way government services are organized between citizens and service providers. This article presents empirical findings from a cross-border pilot that was the first case to utilize this new blockchain infrastructure, and which tested the institutional, technical, and user-specific requirements for wider adoption. The pilot tested and assessed the verification of education credentials through the EBSI blockchain in a cross-border setting between a Belgian and an Italian university. The research was based on action research with the ICT units of the participating universities, wallet solution providers, the Belgian government, and EBSI officials. The findings highlight the following as key challenges for the wider adoption of the EBSI and verification credential use case: (1) onboarding of the EBSI ecosystem governance, (2) issuance of EBSI-compliant digital wallets and data schemes for transcript validation, (3) interoperability issues concerning digital identity systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/7/2/79blockchainself-sovereign identityverifiable credentialseducationEBSIdigital wallets |
| spellingShingle | Evrim Tan Ellen Lerouge Jan Du Caju Daniël Du Seuil Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy Big Data and Cognitive Computing blockchain self-sovereign identity verifiable credentials education EBSI digital wallets |
| title | Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy |
| title_full | Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy |
| title_fullStr | Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy |
| title_short | Verification of Education Credentials on European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): Action Research in a Cross-Border Use Case between Belgium and Italy |
| title_sort | verification of education credentials on european blockchain services infrastructure ebsi action research in a cross border use case between belgium and italy |
| topic | blockchain self-sovereign identity verifiable credentials education EBSI digital wallets |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/7/2/79 |
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