The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation SPRIND has announced the participants of the SPRIND Funke EUDI Wallet Prototypes. For the first stage of this 15-month innovation competition, six teams were selected to develop prototypes for European Digital Identity (EUDI) wallets. In the second stage, four teams received funding. With the EUDI wallet, citizens will be able to identify themselves digitally. In addition, they will be able to store, manage, and present their identity data and official documents in electronic form in these digital wallets.

The current eIDAS Regulation 2.0 regulates the basis for the increasing use of electronic means of identification and digital verification in Europe and defines the framework conditions necessary for this. Germany now needs a path toward eIDAS-compliant infrastructure. That is why the Architecture and Consultation Process for EUDI Wallets project was started. It aims to develop a concept for a personal digital wallet that citizens and organizations can use to securely identify themselves digitally in the future.

The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation SPRIND is carrying out this project on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI). To date, various architectural proposals have been developed for the implementation of EUDI wallets in Germany based on the existing infrastructure of the online ID function of the state-issued ID card.

SPRIND INNOVATION COMPETITION IN THREE STAGES

As part of SPRIND Funke, two teams will now receive funding in the third stage to further implement and prototype their innovative ideas based on the architecture concepts for a wallet app. In addition to the two teams that receive funding, a further two teams that do not receive funding from SPRIND will take part in the third stage of this innovation competition. Each team is to develop at least one wallet app for Android or iOS, including the necessary background systems, and make it available for testing. The SPRIND innovation competition is intended in particular to address critical challenges in the design of an EUDI wallet for users in Germany.

The SPRIND Spark EUDI Wallet Prototypes has a duration of 15 months in 3 stages. SPRIND will fund six teams in stage 1, up to four teams in stage 2 and up to two teams in stage 3. In stage 1, the selected teams received up to 300,000 euros from SPRIND, for stage 2 up to 300,000 euros. For stage 3, two teams receive up to 450,000 euros each.

The decision on whether to take part in the third stage was made by a jury of experts in Berlin on December 10. Stage 2 began in September 2024 and lasted three months. Stage 3 begins in December 2024 and ends in September 2025.

All teams will benefit from the jury's feedback, the exchange of ideas and the SPRIND network.

For more informationen about this SPRIND Funke EUDI Wallet Prototypes and the participating teams.