Our Project
Copyright: SPRIND, Felix Adler
What do we want to achieve?
The EUDI Wallet project aims to develop a government-supported, user-friendly and interoperable infrastructure for digital identities in Germany that complies with the requirements of the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation. The European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) will enable citizens to identify securely in digital form and to store, manage and present a variety of documents such as driving licenses, certificates or health insurance cards digitally. Its use is voluntary, free of charge and compliant with data protection regulations. It will also be possible to use it across borders within the EU.
To realize this vision, the project has the following objectives:
- Developing an architectural concept for the German EUDI Wallet ecosystem,
- developing technical, legal and user-centric requirements for the wallet and ecosystem in close consultation with stakeholders from government, industry and civil society and
- preparing for the nationwide rollout of the EUDI Wallet in Germany.
The wallet was developed in an open and participatory consultation process. This consultation process has now been successfully completed. The public was actively involved through various formats such as workshops, open consultation hours and the OpenCoDE platform.
🔗 More information on the consultation process can be found here
The European framework for EUDI Wallets
What ist the EUDI Wallet?
EUDI wallets are digital wallets that will enable citizens to identify themselves securely online and store and manage a variety of documents, such as driving licences, certificates and insurance cards - both online and offline. The amended eIDAS Regulation (eIDAS 2.0) sets out specific requirements for EUDI Wallets that Member States must consider when implementing them.
Why does the EUDI Wallet exist?
The EUDI wallet is the central element of the amended eIDAS Regulation (eIDAS 2.0), which was adopted by the European Parliament on 29th of February 2024 and officially entered into force on 20th of May 2024. eIDAS stands for ‘electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services’ and forms the European legal framework for digital identities and trust services. The amendment was necessary because the digital habits of citizens and the range of online services on offer have changed significantly. An evaluation by the European Commission in 2020 showed that the original regulation did not meet all expectations and that the existing framework was not sufficiently tailored to the specific needs of certain industries. eIDAS 2.0 therefore requires all EU Member States to provide their citizens with a digital wallet by the beginning of 2027 at the latest.
What are the core requirements of the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation?
- Secure identification: A European Digital Identity Wallet is an electronic means of identification that enables the user to securely store, manage and validate personal identification data and electronic attribute attestations (i.e. further evidence) for presentation to relying parties (e.g. public authorities or businesses) and other users of European Digital Identity Wallets and for signing by means of qualified electronic signatures or sealing by means of qualified electronic seals.
- Combined proofs: The wallet enables the combination of different proofs and should be usable both online and offline.
- Free of charge: The use of an EUDI Wallet must be free of charge and voluntary for citizens.
- High security standards: Onboarding and provisioning are carried out at the "High" trust level.
- Data protection: Exclusion of tracking and ensuring the unlinkability of user behaviour, including by issuers of evidence and by service providers.
- Open source: The source code of the application software components of European digital identity wallets must be subject to an open-source licence.
- Free QES: An EUDI Wallet must offer all natural persons the opportunity to sign documents free of charge using qualified electronic signatures - with the option of restricting free signatures to non-commercial purposes.
The following information should be confirmed/provided by the state in an EUDI Wallet: Address, age, gender, marital status, family composition, nationality or citizenship, educational qualifications, titles, and authorisations.
More information on the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation can be found here
How can the EUDI Wallet be used in everyday life?
EUDI Wallets will be used in a variety of everyday use cases. Some of the most prominent use cases are being trialled in large-scale pilot projects across Europe. The LSP POTENTIAL pilot project led by Germany and France, for example, is testing the interoperability of EUDI Wallets using six use cases:
- eGovernment: Utilisation of government services (electronic administration)
- Opening an account with a bank
- Digital driving licence
- SIM registration with mobile phone providers
- Qualified electronic signature: legally secure digital signing
- Electronic prescription (ePrescription): Digital transmission of medical prescriptions
Many more applications are also conceivable.
National implementation within the European framework
While the national EUDI Wallet project is putting the implementation into concrete terms, the European Commission is creating the technical and legal framework for all member states with the Architecture Reference Framework (ARF) and its own reference implementations. The national architecture is based on these specifications but expands them to include specific requirements and participation processes tailored to the German administrative landscape and legal system.
How will the EUDI Wallet be implemented in Germany?
A central element of the German project is the architectural concept. It describes the technical and organizational structure of the future wallet infrastructure. Among other things, it answers the following questions:
- How can personal identification data (PID) be stored and used securely?
- How can interoperability with European solutions be ensured?
- How can business and operating models for wallet operators be designed?
This architecture documentation is being developed iteratively, new versions are published regularly and are based on feedback from experts, stakeholders and users. More information on the architecture documentation can be found here:
🔗 To the Technical Documentation
Innovation competition "Funke EUDI Wallet Prototypes"
Copyright: SPRIND, Felix Adler
To promote innovative and practical solutions, SPRIND is holding the ‘Funke EUDI Wallet Prototypes’ innovation competition. The aim is to develop prototypes that are secure, user-friendly and interoperable. Numerous teams, for example from universities, start-ups and established technology companies, have submitted their proposals by 5th of May 2024. The competition takes place in two parallel tracks: in the Funded Track, successful teams receive up to 950,000 euros, while in the Non-Funded Track, teams receive no financial support.
The competition is divided into three phases over 13 months, with a staggered technical focus:
- PID processing (May 2024 to August 2024)
- Attributes & proofs (August 2024 to November 2024)
- Pseudonymous login, QES and payments (from November 2024)
The prototypes developed as part of the innovation competition will be made available for testing in six use cases during the development process as part of the POTENTIAL pilot project. POTENTIAL is one of four large-scale European pilot projects designed to ensure the interoperability and thus Europe-wide usability of EUDI wallets in various use cases. For this purpose, all participating countries are providing EUDI wallet prototypes. All the latest information on the SPRIND innovation competition can be found here.
The third and final Funke Conference will take place on 14th of October 2025 in Berlin and will mark the conclusion of the Funke competition, including an awards ceremony and a demonstration of the latest technical achievements of the participating teams. Further information about this event can be found in our Event Calendar.
Recordings of previous Funke Conferences can be found here.
Conclusion
The national EUDI Wallet project is an important building block in the digital transformation in Germany and Europe. It combines technical innovation with political responsibility, public participation and European cooperation. In the future, the EUDI Wallet will be a secure, data protection-compliant and user-friendly tool for citizens, businesses and public administrations.