NGI Sargasso and Canada collaborative call in Digital Credentials

Closed

Beneficiary & submission

NGI Sargasso and Canada collaborative call in Digital Credentials will support projects from European Member States and Associated Countries in the field of Digital Credentials that propose an effective collaboration with Canadian companies that are selected within callout run by the Government of Canada in Digitization and Cybersecurity and more specifically from the Digital Credentials’ problem statement. EU Member States and Associated Countries entities will not be required to identify their Canadian counterparts, which will be introduced by NGI Sargasso once the outcomes of the Canadian callout can be made available. Submission & evaluation process Submissions will be done exclusively via online platform: https://cascadefunding.sploro.eu/application/new?program=ngi-sargasso-2023-canada-call The submission process is supported by the following documents: Online Form: completed via Sploro platform and divided in four sections (1) general profile of the applicants (2) alignment with the open call (3) excellence of the project and (4) impact. Guidelines for Applicants: all the information you need to know before applying. FAQ section: for usual doubts about our programme. The evaluation process will be done by external experts and a final interview to a shortlist of applicants. There are three evaluation criteria (alignment, excellence and impact) which will guide the evaluation process. For any question about the process there is a general email address available at helpdesk@ngisargasso.eu

Further information

General Information The NGI Sargasso project plays a vital role in promoting the collaboration between Canada and the European Union on digital credential interoperability. One of the project's primary objectives is to enable cross-border collaboration between researchers, innovators, and developers to promote innovation and digital transformation. This call runs in parallel to the Canadian call for proposals related to the challenges of digital credential problem statement, under the challenge of "Digitization and cybersecurity" [1] of the Innovative Solutions Canada program[2] . The Innovative Solutions Canada program, administered by the federal department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, invites Canadian companies with novel solutions to solve digital credential challenges and to facilitate the early development, testing and validation of digital credential products and services, including issuing and verifying services, digital wallet solutions and digital trust registries. Since 2010, the Innovative Solutions Canada program has partnered with eligible Canadian small businesses to support the early development, testing and validation of prototypes. Canadian companies that have been awarded challenges[3] are posted on the Innovation Solutions Canada website along with success story highlights[4]. The Digital Credentials challenge is posted under the program’s Digitization and Cybersecurity Testing Stream and closed at the end of April 2023. Canadian companies that meet the eligibility, funding and project requirements will be explored by the Canadian Government for potential testing-related collaborations with EU entities within the NGI Sargasso project. The aim of this collaboration is to establish an effective partnership that can develop and implement internationally recognized standards and best practices for digital credentials and establish a seamless and interoperable digital credential ecosystem. Following the recommendations of the final report of the EC – Canada workshops on digital credentials[5], through this collaborative call, both jurisdictions have the opportunity to further join their efforts in advancing interoperability and mutual recognition of digital credentials. Some of the main target areas in achieving digital credential interoperability include: Technical interoperability, semantic interoperability, legal and regulatory interoperability, governance interoperability and user experience. The submitted proposals should take into consideration these target areas. The aim is to provide funding for projects that tackle at least one of the following challenges: Advance interoperability testing of technical conformity and/or compatibility between trust frameworks. The topic will explore conformity and compatibility testing approaches and will propose solutions that will advance the interoperability between technology solutions and trust frameworks from EU and Canada. Test issuing and verification services and infrastructures between jurisdictions. This topic will focus on innovative EU services and infrastructures that support the digital credential model (issuing, verifying and holding) and will advance and test these solutions with the Canadian counterparts. Test the interoperability of digital wallet solutions, including testing EBSI wallet framework interoperability with Canadian digital credential technologies. This topic will focus on demonstrating interoperability between EU and Canadian wallet solutions. The proposal should identify interoperability challenges and propose innovative solutions that will facilitate and improve the storage, presentation and verification of digital credentials between EU and Canadian wallets. Develop and test an approach for decentralised trusted data registries. This topic will focus on designing innovative and transparent, cryptographically secure system to act as a trust anchor for digital credentials. This system will be based on international standards and allow easy scaling. The aim will be to advance the solution, testing easy scaling, and/or implementing international standards together with the Canadian counterparts. Financial Support NGI Sargasso will only provide financial support to European Member States and Associated Countries entities for projects submitted to this collaboration call-out, including a 9-month experiment with a funding limit of up to EUR 100,000. NGI Sargasso offers financial support in the form of a flat-rate grant to successful applicants to cover the project's personnel costs, direct costs, travels, and expenses related to the project. The justification of those grants will not be based in the form of administrative-financial cost statements but on the approval of deliverables agreed with NGI Sargasso team. Apart from the grant amount, NGI Sargasso also provides mentoring, coaching, and networking opportunities to help applicants achieve their project goals. OnCampus Programme NGI Sargasso offers mentoring, coaching, and networking opportunities to successful applicants to support them in achieving their project goals through the OnCampus Programme, which will be entirely online. The program is provided by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and offers personalized assistance, business guidance, expert insights, access to a vast network of key stakeholders, and marketing opportunities. The OnCampus Programme will be delivered through online platforms and tools, allowing applicants to participate remotely and access all program resources from anywhere in the world. The participation on this programme will be compulsory for EU partners and optional for Canadian entities. Eligible beneficiaries The European Member States and Associated Countries eligible entities by NGI Sargasso open call should be legally identified under the following categories of organisations: Universities and research centers: academic and research institutions with a focus on developing novel knowledge areas and technologies aligned with the focus of NGI Sargasso. NGOs and foundations: non-profit organizations and foundations that work under the NGI areas of knowledge and technologies. SMEs and startups: small and medium-sized enterprises and startups that focus on developing innovative solutions related to NGI Sargasso’s areas of focus. Collaboration with Canada. As part of this collaborative open call, it is not necessary for applicants to provide a support letter from a Canadian entity. The Canadian Government recently closed its own call-out focused on digitization and cybersecurity on April 18, and is currently evaluating submissions. They will provide a list of potential Canadian candidates who can collaborate with EU Member States and Associated Countries entities. NGI Sargasso will facilitate the matching process between the two parties[6]. [1] Digitization and cybersecurity (canada.ca) (https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovative-solutions-canada/en/digitization-and-cybersecurity) [2] Innovative Solutions Canada – About the program [3] Funded projects (canada.ca) – Examples of Canadian Innovators that participated in Innovation Solutions Canada [4] Our stories (canada.ca) – Stories of Canadian Innovators that participated in Innovation Solutions Canada [5] Canada-EU Joint Workshop Series for Enabling Interoperability and Mutual Support for Digital Credentials: Results and next steps | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu) [6] An open possibility could be including the USA in a trilateral approach via SVIP Programme