IDunion
Showcase region: Cologne and Berlin
Digital student ID: The digital student ID for any eventuality
Students need to identify themselves in many contexts, i.e., to register for exams, to gain access to parts of the campus (like the computing center), or to borrow books. Furthermore, students often receive discounts – i.e., in coffee shops, museums, or public transport – and must identify themselves on-site. This requires a number of different identification credentials: student ID, semester ticket, library card, cafeteria card, or access data for the examination platform. Until now, there has not been an interconnected solution which works for different educational institutions and can be verified by a third party.
IDunion will develop a digital student ID and a mobile wallet which connects all necessary certificates in one digital repository – fraud-proof and easy to handle through the use of verified credentials and QR codes. Furthermore, the digital student ID can be used for visual checks by allowing the digital copy of the physical ID to be stored as an attachment in the verifiable credentials. This is particularly useful in an exam, for example, where students must prove that they have credentials and are bound by them.
The digital student ID will initially be tested at the Technische Universität Berlin. In a second step, it will be extended to other educational institutions in Berlin. In principle, the digital student ID could also be used in other cities and universities in Germany as well as across the world. This makes it extremely attractive for the Erasmus program and the students participating in it. With an international student ID, the use of campus services can be simplified and the need for registration for services eliminated.
The same applies for school students: often, they also need to identify themselves to get access to certain benefits.
Digital employee ID: Simple password reset in everyday office life
Who has not experienced this everyday problem? After a vacation, you want to get back to work motivated and when you start your computer, you realize that your password has expired, or you have forgotten it. Often you then have to contact support to get a new password. This costs time, service fees and motivation.
IDunion’s digital employee ID replaces the need for an IT service provider. Thanks to the digital storage of credentials as well as an integrated ID function and stored authorization information, passwords can be reset without the help of a third party. The digital employee ID offers potential for cost savings, especially for large businesses. Studies show that employees forget their password on average once per year. With 20,000 employees, thousands of working hours are spent on hold at support hotlines.
In the medium term, it can also be used as a general access instrument for access to IT applications or buildings, not only for the company's own employees but also for external parties. Without any additional usernames, passwords or NFC cards.
Business wallet: Efficient master data management in the supply chain
Regardless of whether it's an international conglomerate, a medium-sized company or a start-up: the basis for trading or cooperation between businesses is always an interplay between trust and control. During onboarding, business partners must exchange master data and register and verify it, and -if necessary - update internal IT systems. For example, commercial register excerpts, tax and account data as well as ISO certifications or sustainability certificates. The master data is mostly managed manually and is, therefore, very time-consuming and costly. The more the number of business partners, the greater is the effort required for data management.
IDunion attempts to simplify these processes through the business wallet. Master data and credentials do not need to be validated individually and transferred manually through internal IT systems but will be saved directly in the issuer’s business wallet. From there, it can be shared with any business partner. A verification of the authenticity and validity of the data is possible at any time and the data must only be entered once initially. In the end, the company’s effort and fraud are reduced, and practical cooperation is facilitated.
This principle is applicable to many other areas, e.g., the compliance with sustainability standards or the transparency of production chains.
Digital educational records: Digital reports and certificates in one place
Especially between bachelor and master programs, but also in the Erasmus exchange program, many students change universities. This often leads to difficulties in recognizing or transferring course records, certificates, transcripts, credits, etc. As different institutions have different requirements regarding the content, form, and accessibility of such documents, they often have to be submitted manually and in different formats (paper and digital) to different institutions and at different times. This involves an immense effort in managing these documents - both for students and university employees. IDunion aims to solve this problem with digital educational records: all records, certificates and other documentation are saved digitally in a single wallet. If, for instance, university administration needs to access a document, students do not need to hand it in personally. Instead they can send the administration staff the stored and decentrally verified documents from their digital wallet. This makes working processes easier and reduces the workload.
This principle can also be used in the private sector. For each new job application, a lot of official documents need to be handed in. In many cases this has already been digitalized. However, the process is still time-consuming for everyone involved.
Smart checkout: Secure payments without two-factor authentication
Online shoppers are familiar with this problem: time-consuming data entry at the end of the ordering process tempts many people to store their payment, address, and other personal data in the browser or with a provider such as Google, Apple or Amazon so that they can quickly retrieve and automatically transmit data and make payments. This process is cumbersome for many people and associated with frequent order cancellations - not to mention the data protection-related risks.
For this reason, IDunion is developing a smart checkout system. In this system, a secure digital identity containing all relevant data like shipping address, payment data, age verification, student ID, and bonus cards is already stored in a digital wallet before the purchasing process. The wallet allows customers to manage their profile themselves without having to rely on a service provider or create a new customer profile for every new online shop. For online payments, the buyers only need to send the data from their wallet to the seller – i.e., by scanning a QR-code which can be found on the seller’s website. The payment process then runs automatically in the background. Checkout is made much easier for customers, and the seller gains more security through verified data.
