The Finnish Ministry of Finance will develop a secure self-sovereign identity network within a budget of 3 mil. euro

The Finnish Ministry of Finance has granted the Findynet Cooperative a three-million-euro government grant to build a pilot environment for a self-sovereign identity network. The aim of this public-private cooperation is to strengthen Finland’s leading position in digitalization and support the emergence of investments in new digital services.

„The Findynet Cooperative aims to develop a network that ensures that digital wallets developed by different service providers are interoperable, and work seamlessly for both organizations and individuals,” according to the press release. Digital wallets enable individuals and organizations to share information about themselves in a reliable and secure manner in various situations. The funding will enable the Findynet Cooperative to develop a common and secure self-sovereign identity network, which can be used to ensure the correctness of information in electronic interactions.

„We are very happy to have received this government grant, which allows us to continue our long-term work with public and private sector actors and build a trust network covering all of society,” comments Markus Hautala, Chairman of the Board of the Findynet Cooperative.

The trust network, which will now be built, promotes digital and human-centered data economies. This means that end-users manage their own data and can decide for themselves what information they share about themselves with different parties to preserve their privacy. For example, this exchange of information could involve electronic receipts, credit information, and proof of professional qualifications.

The founding members of the Findynet Cooperative include nine public and private sector organizations: Finance Finland, Finnish Post, Nixu, Nordea Bank, OP Financial Group, Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), Technology Finland, Tietoevry and Vastuu Group.

The announcement by the Ministry of Finance on the subject can be found here (in Finnish).