Colombia holds verifiable credential workshop for public sector

The government of Colombia is holding a workshop in Bogotá this week to develop a proof-of-concept for verifiable credentials, focusing on use cases for the public sector.

The Digital Public Infrastructure Bootcamp: Verifiable Credentials invites international experts, government technical teams and public sector entities. The goal is to build a functional pilot and to formulate “technical, methodological and operational inputs” that will support the adoption of verifiable credentials among public agencies across the Latin American country.

The workshop is hosted by the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC), in partnership with the Center for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI), and runs from May 4th to May 9th.

“The process will cover the full implementation lifecycle of this technology, from scope definition and technical alignment to data model design, issuance and verification processes, and the deployment of an operational solution that will be handed over to the country for its evolution into expanded pilots,” MinTIC says in an announcement.

Colombia launched the second version of its biometrically secured digital identity in 2023, after digitizing some 74 million civil records. The project was launched through MinTIC and is run by the National Civil Registry of Colombia (RNEC).

The “cédula digital” is part of the country’s ambitious digital transformation goals, and allows citizens to hold both a physical ID card and a digital ID on a smartphone app.

In theory, both Colombians and foreign residents can use the digital ID to access public and private services. In practice, however, active usage remains limited, while integration with public and private services is underdeveloped, according to an analysis from Namirial.

The digital ID app is developed by Gestión de Seguridad Electrónica S.A. (GSE), while the ID has received technical support from Idemia.

Article Topics

Colombia  |  digital government  |  digital public infrastructure  |  verifiable credentials