EU project FutureTrust enters piloting phase

EU-funded FutureTrust project supports implementation of eIDAS-Regulation

Even before the eIDAS-Regulation became fully applicable on 1^st of July 2016, a pan-European team of experts led by the Ruhr University Bochum and ecsec GmbH had joined forces to facilitate the provision and use of electronic identification (eID) and trust services. Building on fundamental and applied research, numerous innovative services, applications and standards have been developed, which pave the way for the global interoperability of trusted and legally binding electronic services. In more than three years of intensive research and development, the EU-funded FutureTrust project has produced numerous remarkable innovations, which are now being made available to the general public. "We are very pleased that the research and development results generated within the FutureTrust project have helped to increase security, trustworthiness and user-friendliness within the eIDAS-Ecosystem,” explains Prof. Dr. Jörg Schwenk, Chair of Network and Data Security at the Ruhr University Bochum and Project Leader of the FutureTrust project.

FutureTrust pilot portal launches with a pan-European and patented eID-Broker

Today’s launch of the FutureTrust pilot portal (https://pilots.FutureTrust.eu) is accompanied by the provision of an innovative and pan-European eID-Broker. It is based on SkIDentity technology, which supports electronic identification means and eID cards from Germany, Estonia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal, Serbia and Georgia as well as arbitrary other authentication tokens and identification means. This pan-European eID-Broker uses innovative and patented technologies, which make it easy to integrate eID technology and implement privacy-friendly identity management, as well as making it easy to integrate strong authentication technology and create and manage derived identities in a privacy and user friendly way. The eID-Broker is protected by the European patents EP2439900 and EP2919145.

Trust services for signatures and seals as well as smart eIDAS applications will follow

The FutureTrust pilots portal addresses essential parts of the eIDAS-Ecosystem and, in addition to the multiple award-winning, certified and patented eID-Service, also includes various trust services for the secure and user-friendly generation, validation and long-term preservation of electronic signatures, seals and evidence records. In addition, the innovative application services and the Global Trust List (gTSL) complete the remarkable portfolio of FutureTrust results.

“The project results include the vital building blocks for the secure implementation of eID and trust services. Furthermore, it also demonstrates  interesting and highly relevant use cases for the technologies developed in the project,”, adds Jon Shamah, Chair of EEMA. “The electronically signed SEPA mandates from Portugal, the electronic Apostilles from Georgia and the eIDAS portal of the German Universities are already casting their shadows ahead.”

About the FutureTrust project

Against the background of the Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 on electronic identification (eID) and trusted services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS), the FutureTrust project (https://futuretrust.eu), which is funded within the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) under Grant Agreement No. 700542, aimed at supporting the practical implementation of the regulation in Europe and beyond.

For this purpose the FutureTrust project addressed the need for globally interoperable solutions through basic research with respect to the foundations of trust and trustworthiness, actively support the standardisation process in relevant areas, and provide Open Source software components and trustworthy services, which will ease the use of eID and electronic signature technology in real world applications. The FutureTrust project has developed numerous innovative services and applications, which are now gradually piloted and released to the public for productive use.

URL: https://pilots.FutureTrust.eu