Blockchain on the Move (BotM)

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Initiator(s):

Flemish government (Flanders Information Agency and Agency for Facility Operations), City of Antwerp (Innovation and Technology Division), Digipolis and V-ICT-OR

Theme:

Digitalisation

Domain:

Governance

Active state:

Realised

Contact:

Flanders Information Agency
Informatie.vlaanderen@vlaanderen.be
T +32 9 276 15 00

Agency for Facility Operations
Frederik Gheys
T +32 494 76 15 38

City of Antwerp, Innovation and Technology Division
Annik Schouteden
T +32 485 49 73 19
Joris Moorthamers
T +32 478 79 67 18

Digipolis
Tobias Verbist
T +32 3 338 76 30

V-ICT-OR
Eddy Van der Stock
T +32 477 32 26 16
Hugo Kershot
T +32 496 57 43 60

PIP
Erwin Dewallef
T +32 472 72 40 48

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Challenge

The PIP project Blockchain on the Move (BotM) envisaged a first attempt to provide citizens, by means of Blockchain technology, with a 'Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)' that they can use in their interaction with governments, other (public) organisations or companies. The project focus was on the use of new technologies (including Blockchain), providing citizens with more freedom of choice and room for regulation in their contacts with the government, and granting citizens ownership of their own data.

Also, the BotM initiators aimed at developing the 'digital vault for citizens' concept. Within this concept, citizens can manage their own data and grant access to their data to third parties. As a first application, the initiators were considering the registration of relocation data in the digital vault, so that citizens can go through the complex (administrative) relocation process by using their SSI.

The main challenge (and 'innovation') of BotM lied in effectively giving citizens control over and management of their data. In this challenge of (civil) self-management of identity, certificates and digital keys, important steps still need to be taken internationally and further research is needed. The BotM initiators wanted to join in and search for innovative solutions to handle data of and transactions between citizens and the government safely and transparently.

The BotM project was part of an efficient and customer-friendly government that places the citizen at the centre of its services and makes him/her the owner of his/her data. This fitted in with both the European privacy regulatory framework (GDPR) and the Flemish policy framework ('Agile Government' and 'Flanders Radical Digital').

Preparation

The BotM initiators have themselves gone through an extensive preliminary trajectory that included the following actions:

The drawing up of a concrete project plan;
The focus of the project scope;
The determination of the state-of-the-art;
The alignment between supply and demand.

The preliminary trajectory resulted in a project plan to work in four phases:

Phase 1: development of the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)-building block (= generic ID solution based on Blockchain technology);
Phase 2: elaboration of the use case 'relocation process';
Phase 3: integration of the SSI building block;
Phase 4: dissemination of the results and creation of an SSI ecosystem.

Procurement

In consultation with the BotM partners, the contracts within the framework of BotM were/are put out to tender via the tried and tested tender procedure Buy from start-ups of Digipolis. This is a 'light' tendering approach specifically aimed at involving small(er) innovative market players in contracts of Digipolis and combines the negotiated procedure without prior publication with some aspects of Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). Buy from start-ups is a two-step procedure in which first suitable candidates for a contract are selected and then negotiations are conducted with the selected candidates who have submitted an offer. These negotiations result, whether or not via a Best and Final Offer (BAFO), in the award of the contract.

Two contracts have been put out to tender within the framework of BotM:

The contract for the development of the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) building block (phase 1 of BotM) was awarded to the supplier Jolocom GmbH;
The contract for the execution of an added value and feasibility analysis of SSI in urban processes (phase 2 of BotM) was awarded to the supplier Layered Prints BVBA.

Execution

SSI building block development (phase 1)

The first phase of the BotM project, the development of the SSI building block, has been realised by Jolocom GmbH.

The result delivered by Jolocom GmbH was a Proof Of Concept (POC) or 'first version' of the SSI building block. This version already illustrated the possibilities of SSI but was not yet a 'total' SSI building block on which to build and/or on which use cases (such as the intended relocation process) could be worked out effectively.

The BotM initiators have therefore decided to change the approach and (further) phasing of the BotM project compared to the initial project plan. As a 'new' phase 2 of the BotM project, the BotM initiators wanted to investigate the added value and feasibility of SSI-based innovative optimisation of three processes of the city of Antwerp, using the SSI POC realised in phase 1 as a starting point. It concerned the following (existing) processes:

Identity for recognised refugees;
Physical or digital key for urban services;
Relocation in the city.

Added value and feasibility analysis of SSI in urban processes (phase 2)

The analysis was carried out and submitted by Layered Prints BVBA.

Results

In a next (third) phase of BotM, it was intended to look at how the three use cases of the added value and feasibility analysis of SSI in urban processes could be realised. In the meantime, however, the Flemish government has withdrawn from BotM, and with that the 'across different policy levels' dimension of BotM has also disappeared. The (remaining) BotM initiators have therefore decided not to start a third phase of BotM and to conclude the project with the results of phase 2.