Event Took Place on January 22, 2025, in Davos, Switzerland, Fostering Global Collaboration on Key Interoperability Challenges through Open Standards
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – January 22, 2025 – The OpenWallet Forum convened its inaugural High-Level Panel Event today at the House of Switzerland, bringing together key stakeholders to discuss the critical need for interoperability within digital wallets and credentials. The event was hosted by the Swiss Confederation and organized jointly by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the OpenWallet Foundation/Linux Foundation, building on collaborative efforts initiated at the WSIS+20 Forum in May 2024.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, and Beat Jans, Swiss Federal Councillor, delivered opening remarks emphasizing the importance of multistakeholder collaboration in achieving global interoperability for digital wallets and credentials ensuring secure participation in the global digital economy and supporting socio-economic development.
Discussions highlighted the necessity for partnerships among governments, standards bodies, and technology developers. Key panelists included H.E. Solly Malatsi, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies of South Africa, and Sergio Mujica, Secretary-General of ISO, who provided insights on the challenges and collaborative solutions required for achieving global interoperability and the essential role of open standards.
The event culminated in a Call to Action for advancing global interoperability for digital wallets, focusing on critical issues such as security, privacy, consumer choice, and inclusion. The OpenWallet Forum invites ongoing participation from the relevant stakeholders to promote best practices that enhance security and privacy, facilitate partnerships across various sectors, and shape the future of interoperable digital wallets – essential tools for securely managing digital credentials like identity, certificates, and payment methods. The Call to Action will guide the development of open, interoperable wallet solutions to advance digital transformation worldwide.
“Wallets for state-issued credentials must adhere to democracy, the rule of law, and human rights principles.”
– Federal Councillor Beat Jans, Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, Switzerland
“From making payments easier to proving identity, digital wallets can make meaningful differences in people’s lives,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “But to do so, they need to be interoperable, secure, and useful anywhere we take them”.
“The ability to digitally prove your identity, university degree or vaccination status should not end at the border. This is why we strive towards global interoperability, and this is why we are truly excited to embark on this journey with governments, intergovernmental organizations, companies and NGOs.“
– Daniel Goldscheider, Executive Director of the OpenWallet Foundation
For more information about the OpenWallet Forum and updates related to the event, please visit OpenWallet Forum
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About the OpenWallet Foundation
The OpenWallet Foundation (OWF) provides a safe space for developers to collaborate on standards-based open source components that issuers, wallet providers and relying parties can use to bootstrap implementations that preserve user choice, security and privacy. With the Government Advisory Council, OWF brings the public and private sector together to work towards open, secure and interoperable digital wallets. OWF is an open initiative under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation and headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. For more information, please visit openwallet.foundation
About Swiss Confederation
The Swiss Confederation is a member of the Governmental Consultative Committee of the OpenWallet Forum. Switzerland is in the process of creating the legal basis for an electronic identity, which shall be issued as a verifiable credential into a wallet. Inspired by self-sovereign identity principles, the system shall allow public authorities and private entities to verify and issue credentials using a shared trust infrastructure.
About ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving innovation in ICTs together with 194 Member States and a membership of over 1,000 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. Established in 1865, it is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, improving communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. From broadband networks to cutting-edge wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, oceanographic and satellite-based earth monitoring as well as converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world. Learn more: http://www.itu.int
