Cooperation with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Security elD Lab Berlin

The issue of the electronic identity - in brief: eIdentity or eID - which, thanks to the Internet, is becoming increasingly important in today's knowledge and information societies is one of the major challenges and future opportunities facing IT, ITC and high-security technology. The establishment of future-enabled eIdentity and access management is an urgent task against the backdrop of growing threats and risks on the Net - a task which policymakers and public administrations as well as all enterprises involved in digital business processes will have to address.

In the Secure eIdentity Lab Berlin which was established together with Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems ? FOKUS Bundesdruckerei is planning to develop new application scenarios for innovative, user-centred eIdentity management. In this context, national projects, such as the planned introduction of the electronic ID card (ePA) in Germany, will have to be considered along with a host of European initiatives aimed at enhancing the security of digital transactions.

The approach of integrating government-issued ID documents, new processes related to the qualified electronic signature and reliable ITC structures into secure electronic communications and eBusiness processes is opening up a wide range of issues and ideas for future-orientated eIdentity solutions for the specialists at the Fraunhofer FOKUS institute and Bundesdruckerei.

The co-operation aims at establishing innovative infrastructures which serve as examples of how to integrate digital identities into seamless processes without the need to change from one medium to another, whilst at the same time affording maximum possible protection to privacy. In this context, the chosen processes of digital identities focusing not just on the citizen but also on issues related to intellectual property, trademark or technology protection are to be reflected by concrete application scenarios covering their entire life cycle.