In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital credentials, IDLab has renewed its focus on promoting digital credential issuance and enrollment that is effective, efficient, and inclusive.
At the heart of IDLab’s renewed focus lies the concept of enrollment – the crucial process that leads to the issuance of a digital credential. While attention is often paid to the display and usage of these credentials, the enrollment experience can vary widely and be fraught with issues that risk eroding trust, and usability, and ultimately undermine widespread adoption.
Accordingly, as a co-creator of multi-party projects, IDLab wants to explore solution-agnostic approaches to identity enrollment and issuance that could be useful to promote adoption and improve the long-term viability of the entire ecosystem.
In a world where digital transformations are redefining the way we interact and conduct business, digital ID verification stands at the forefront of innovation. The need for reliable and secure digital identification methods has never been more apparent to support:
- Online age verification
- Digitally accessing essential services like banking, housing, and employment
- Government agencies and private businesses seeking to provide programs and services online
- Society grappling with identity theft and fraud
We all stand to benefit from secure, seamless and accessible digital credentials.
However, how we will enroll users to these digital credentials effectively, efficiently and inclusively remains a challenge.
Understanding the enrollment and issuance challenges
Globally, there are ongoing explorations of how digital credentials can supplement physical forms of identification. From chipped ID cards, to highly secure driver’s licenses, to hand-written birth certificates, there are a range of starting points when transitioning from physical to digital identity and credentials.
It gets even more complicated when a user does not have these documents to start the enrollment process – refugees, people experiencing domestic abuse or homelessness and survivors of human trafficking come to mind as individuals who often lack, or have lost, access to traditional identification documents.
These kinds of inconsistencies for digital identity issuance underscore the need for effective, efficient, inclusive and adaptable identity enrollment and issuance options that can accommodate a range of identity and credential documents as their starting point.
Accessible, inclusive, and efficient enrollment – Building the future of digital identity
How do we enable that kind of flexibility across the ecosystem? IDLab’s impact area – Enrollment and Issuance – aims to bridge this gap between traditional identification systems and modern, digitally verifiable credentials.
IDLab acknowledges that for digital identity systems to succeed, they must address the real-world challenges of enrollment and verification. A convoluted or cumbersome enrollment process can stifle adoption, affecting the long-term viability of the entire ecosystem.
By focusing on the beginning of the user journey and prioritizing a positive enrollment experience, IDLab aims to pave the way for decentralized and optional digital credentials in Canada.
Interested in exploring this impact area with us?
Here’s a few ways to get started:
- Review our Active and Completed projects to see if there is an ongoing project you’d like to get involved in.
- Propose a new project. Start by learning more about our co-created projects.
- Become a funder of this impact area.
IDLab is committed to strengthening cybersecurity by advancing safe and seamless digital credentials. We explore impact areas to promote a better understanding of digital identity, ensure seamless interoperability and facilitate community growth.
