Dear Colleagues,

As we concluded 2023 by commemorating our 10th anniversary during the SIA Secure Identity Summit in Brussels on November 30th and celebrated the recent agreement on eIDAS2, marking another significant milestone in the realm of secure digital identities, we want to emphasize the driving forces behind our organization over the past years and those that will propel us in the years to come.

Our unwavering commitment to fostering collaboration, disseminating best practices, and catalyzing innovation, coupled with a steadfast dedication to ensuring equitable market dynamics through interoperability, underscores the SIA's mission to unlock the full potential of identity, to facilitate the thriving of individuals, the economy, and society.

Central to our vision for digital transformation is the cultivation of secure, inclusive, and privacy-respecting digital identity systems and credentials on a global scale. We aspire to facilitate a connected world where individuals, businesses, and governments can engage confidently and seamlessly in physical and digital transactions, thereby promoting responsible and sustainable economic growth.

Throughout 2023, the SIA sustained its collaborative efforts with governments, multilateral entities, and industry partners, advocating and putting into practice our vision.

 

Innovation at the helm

 

SIDI-HUB

 

In pursuit of cross-border interoperability for digital identity, the SIA launched the SIDI-HUB in partnership with another 16 non-profit organizations at Trustech.

 

OSIA

 

Partnerships with UNDP and NIIS yielded the introduction of the OSIA Open Source reference implementation.

 

e-SEC

 

The SIA eSEC 2.0 tool (beta version) which enables to evaluate if a an existing or future document follows some basic recommendations set by ICAO in terms of security design (Doc 9303 – part 2) was launched to an early-user community of governments and multilaterals.

 

 

Research Advancement

 

Collaborating with the SIA, the NTNU Multidisciplinary Research group on Privacy and data protEcTion (MR PET) conducted a comprehensive research project on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards integrating privacy by design principles into National Identity Systems (NIDS). The findings are slated for publication in early 2024.

 

 

Thought leadership and contributions

 

The SIA's intellectual contributions extended to influential reports and whitepapers, including:

 

- The World Bank flagship “report on Digital Progress and Trends”

 

- OECD recommendation on the Governance of Digital Identity

- The Open ID Foundation “Human-Centric Digital Identity: for Government Officials” Whitepaper

- GAIN in 2023 Whitepaper

 

 

Output across all our Working Group programmes continued as disruptive technologies and policy decisions fuel the need for secure and seamless, truly inclusive and protective ID frameworks that are capable of bridging the physical and virtual worlds. Read our latest blogposts on:

 

- Making Secure Electronic Documents are Cyber Resilient

- Seamless Borders - from Vision to Reality

 

- The importance of reducing the environmental impact of identity documents

 

 

 

Partnerships and Alliances

 

Continued collaboration resulted in key partnerships, such as:

 

- The global partnership with UNDP to enhance digital identity systems, committed to promoting open standards and interoperability and ensure a fair environment. the organizations aim to foster innovation, seamlessly integrate digital tools, and guarantee online system access for everyone, ensuring no one is left behind without proof of identity.

- The partnership with IDSA to provide insights into the evolving identity threat landscape, with a focus on biometrics, AI, customer-identity-and-access-management (CIAM), and Know Your Customer (KYC).

- The partnership with NIIS to collaborate on the development of an open-source reference implementation of an ID use case using the OSIA Open Standard and the X-Road data exchange layer solution.

- And our participation in the Linux Europe Open Wallet Foundation as an Associate Board Member.

 

SIA hosted two OSIA meetings in Kenya and Paris. The OSIA framework has garnered international acceptance, including in countries such as Jamaica, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Monaco. 

The Paris meeting was a moment to pay homage to Engr. Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, who has diligently chaired the initiative for the past four years. As we expressed our heartfelt gratitude for his invaluable leadership, we extended a warm welcome to DG Abisoye NIMC NIGERIA, the new Chair of the OSIA Advisory Committee.

 

 

Leadership positions

 

SIA proudly acknowledges the representation of Debora Comparin on the Advisory Board of Linux Foundation Europe,

and our participation in thePrivate Sector Advisory Group of the EU D4D-Hub Initiative.

 

 

Inclusion

 

SIA was proud to contribute to theGlobal Compact on Refugees through our pledge: Support to accelerate the provision of secure and widely accepted travel documents for refugees and stateless persons.

 

 

Global Advocacy and Engagement

 

SIA Members shared our vision and recommendations proactively through many engagements across the world including:

7-9 March: HSP Europe Abu-Dhabi, UAE

17-19 March: Optical & Digital Document Security Prague, Czech Republic

5-6 April: FIC/ID Forum, Lille, France

5 April: Privacy workshop with NTNU

26 April: eID Wallet Seminar by GlobalPlatform, Brussels

11-12 May: APIDE, Marrakesh

23-25 May: ID4Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

13-14 June: Identity Week Europe, Amsterdam

11-12 September: Borderless Cyber by OASIS, London

3-4 October: Identity Week America, Washington

4-6 October: Digital Government Africa Summit, Zambia

7-8 November: Identity Week Asia, Singapore

29 November - 1 December: Trustech, Paris

11 & 13 December: SIA eSEC early user group workshop

12 December: ‘Digital Skills’ webinar with World Bank and Smart Africa by Medef International

 

 

 

None of our achievements would have been possible without the support of our 60+ members, affiliated members, and partners.

We take this opportunity to express our gratitude and extend our wishes for a successful 2024 to all.

Sincerely,

The SIA Team