The Future of Digital Identity

On May 23, 2023, the event “Verso l’identità digitale europea” (Towards the European Digital Identity), promoted by Associazione Cittadinanza Digitale in cooperation with the Chamber of Deputies, was held in Rome.

During the debate, the future of the digital identity of Italian citizens, its diffusion, development scenarios and prospects, opportunities generated at the national and European level, and its use to protect citizens online were discussed.
Andrea Simoni, Secretary General of Fondazione Bruno Kessler, addressed in particular the issue of interoperability with the European digital identity wallet (EUDI Wallet). The Secretary General announced that in June 2023 the implementation of one of the e-wallet solutions involving Italy will be starting and that, within the European Digital Identity Wallet project, the experimentation will be starting from the Autonomous Province of Trento and will be concerning in particular: identification and authentication for the use of digital public services (eGov); digital driving license; and electronic drug prescription (ePrescription).

In fact, Italy is one of the most advanced European countries in the process of spreading digital identity among its citizens, which will be substantially strengthened by the measures activated by the government within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) for digital transition of public administration (especially measure 1.4.4 “Adoption of digital identity“).

National institutions are thus playing a leading role in actions aimed at the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI), which will integrate official documents, biographical characteristics and everything else that defines the digital identity of a European citizen into a single application.