Launch of the Studying Abroad Pilot
December 2021

The Studying Abroad pilot of the DE4A project aims at demonstrating in practice the benefits for students and competent authorities of realizing across borders the principles of Once-Only and digital-by-default. The pilot is proud to announce that the first cross-border educational services have been launched for piloting. 

The services largely correspond to fully online procedures of the 'Studying' Life Event in the Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR), which allow students from Portugal to easily pre-enrol for a master degree study at University Jaume I in Spain, and Spanish and Portuguese students to apply for study grants at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Slovenia. Students will use their national eIDs to access the services and will explicitly request the use of the DE4A technical system to have their diploma evidence required by the services transferred electronically from a trusted source in their home country satisfying applicable provisions of the SDGR and the GDPR. This way, students will no longer have to search for the evidence and fill in the necessary application forms by themselves.

Details of the services and the guidelines for participation can be found on the microsite of the Studying Abroad pilot at https://www.de4a.eu/studyingabroadpilot

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Further cross-border services and combinations of Member States are expected to be launched in early 2022.
 

European Week of Regions and Cities Webinar
DE4A Demonstrates How it is Streamlining Interactions Between Citizens, Businesses and Governments During European Week of Regions and Cities

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There were over 65 direct attendees to the EU regions week (#EURegionsWeek)

DE4A was chosen as a partner for the 19th European Week of Regions and Cities - the biggest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to cohesion policy. The project was invited to host a live online information session to demonstrate how interactions between citizens, businesses and governments can be streamlined. The session entitled ‘Streamlining how citizens and business interact with governments’ took place on October 12. The hour and fifteen minutes event was hosted by the Chair of DE4A project partner, EEMA, Jon Shamah, who provided overview of the project and its objectives.

Mr Shamah explained how DE4A is a pilot-led project that is aiming to make it easier for EU citizens, to live, work and study in whichever Member State they choose, by reducing the effort needed to transfer official documents, providing direct and permissioned communications. He explained how the project aligns with the European Commission’s commitment to a digital society and value-based digital government, citing EU regulations – Single Digital Gateway (SDGR 2018), eIDAS and GDPR, as well as declarations from Tallin, Berlin and Lisbon.

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Attendees were introduced to the three pilots and given insight into how they will utilise innovative technologies (notably Blockchain) and the Once Only Principle (OOP) to realise the European Single Market in practice.

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Dr. Alenka Žužek Nemec, from the Ministry of Public Administration, Republic of Slovenia highlighted the benefits cross border interoperability and the OOP presents to governments and citizens such as reducing administrative burdens, improving data reliability and service delivery, as well as reducing fraud. However, Dr. Nemec also pointed to the main challenges that need to be overcome – trust, interoperability, user centricity and technological development. Dr. Nemec provided insight into the Once Only Technical system infrastructure which is being developed at an EU level to support the OOP in line with the SDGR’s requirement for ‘full cross-border accessibility.’

Explaining how three of the challenges highlighted by Dr. Nemec (user centricity, interoperability and trust) can be overcome, was Gérard SOISSON, from the Ministry for digitalisation (Luxembourg), representing CTIE. This was built upon by Ingegerd Widell from the Tax Authority of Sweden, who introduced the Moving Abroad real-life pilot that will commence before the end of 2021, to highlight the complexities (for all parties) involved in the current process of moving from one Member State to another, with a new procedure that streamlines the sharing of information.

On the Austria’s participation in DE4A project

The Federal Computing Centre of Austria (BRZ) participates as a beneficiary in DE4A project together with its Linked Third Party, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW). Both organisations are mainly involved in the developments in WP5 and overall, in the piloting of DBA-pilot in WP4. Austria understands it participation in the project as a contribution to the preparatory work for the realisation of the Single Digital Gateway and its underlying regulation.

DE4A has published a new brochure that offers EU citizens and businesses an introduction into this transformative project, as well as an insight in to the three pilots and associated use cases, that are ongoing as the initiative enters its second year. The work, results and outcomes of these pilots will positively impact all EU citizens that intend to move to and/or study in a different Member State, as well as set-up and conduct business across international borders within the EU.

Demonstrating the potential for sharing across borders common European digital services.
Chair: Hans Graux - Partner, Timelex
Alberto Crespo - Head of Identity & Privacy Laboratory,  Atos Research & Innovation
Alexander Bielowski - Enterprise Business Architect, ICTU
Ana Rosa Guzmán - Area Manager for Planning and Governance, SGDA
Muhamed Turkanović - Assistant Professor, University of Maribor