Following a call for projects by the European Union (EU) in 2020, Luxembourg’s Ministry for Digitalisation, Infrachain, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) have partnered to develop the EBSILUX project.
Co-funded by the EU, the EBSILUX project integrates Luxembourg into the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) and implements a European EBSI use case at the national level. This is expected to improve the internal market’s functions and support the competitiveness of the European economy.
EBSI uses blockchain to build cross-border services that will allow public administrations and their ecosystems to verify information and make services more trustworthy. EBSI has deployed a network of distributed blockchain nodes across Europe, supporting applications focused on selected use cases. The EBSILUX project contributes to the overall robustness and security of the EBSI by hosting one of these nodes.
With Luxembourg prioritising student mobility, multilingualism and international cooperation, EBSILUX is implementing the Diplomas use case of EBSI. This use case provides digital academic certificate records in Luxembourg for the sake of transparency and trust between schools and / or universities, students and employers. It is a fully interoperable and cross-border solution. The use case is set to leverage digital identity, distributed ledger and mechanism for digital verifiable credentials / presentations.
To support the Diplomas use case, a digital identity based on the European Self-Sovereign Identity (ESSIF) framework will also be implemented. ESSIF will allow individuals to create, control and use their own digital identity without having to rely on a single, centralised authority. The framework follows the European Commission announcement of a trusted and secure Digital Identity for all Europeans.
EBSILUX is expected to result in improved access to trans-European services. More specifically, individuals, businesses and administrations from Luxembourg and other EU Member States will get access to services based in Luxembourg and other EU Member States that are accessible via EBSI.
A presentation event of the EBSILUX project with special introductory words by Marc Hansen, Luxembourg's Minister Delegate for Digitalisation, will take place on Wednesday 14 July 2021. “Discover EBSILUX, Integrating Luxembourg into the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)” will present exclusive insights into the EBSILUX project to ministries, administrations and public institutions.
Fabrice Croiseaux, Chairman of Infrachain, commented: “Infrachain is delighted to be part of the team of this strategic project. EBSILUX lays the foundation for what will be an important tool for successful interaction of private and public players in the European Blockchain space".
Prof. Dr. Gilbert Fridgen, Delegate to the European Blockchain Partnership and PayPal-FNR PEARL Chair in Digital Financial Services of SnT, added: “At first sight, digital identities and diploma credentials are eGovernment topics, yet they will also have a massive impact on business process, business models, and the ways we handle all kinds of personal data. EBSILUX is a major step forward for Luxembourg”.
Dr. Djamel Khadraoui, Head of the Trusted Service System Research Unit of LIST, concluded: "EBSILUX is an important step for a broader use of Blockchain based cross-border services in Europe. The development of real-life use cases that proof the feasibility of the Blockchain technology in reality will help to investigate into new services and markets".
