Cross Border Digital Services (CBDS) Seminar

Sessions to be held in the main conference hall:

• 08:30: Networking Breakfast

  • A light breakfast will be served for the early birds

• 09:30: Opening Ceremony - setting the scene (André Jamholt , Ida Heimann Larsen, Einar Gunnar Thoroddsen)
  • Welcome from the Cross Border Digital Service Programme Secretariat. High-level opening of the seminar.
    
• 10:10: Delivery and first-hand look at the the Nordic-Baltic Handbook on cross-border data exchange (Mikko Matinnen)

  • Mikko Mattinen from the Finish Digital Agency will present the results from three years of working on the project “Achieving the World’s Smoothest Cross-Border Mobility and Daily Life through Digitalisation”, creating a shared model and practices for improving the effectiveness of cross-border data-exchange.

• 10:45: Showcase of Nordic-Baltic Pilots and Proof of Concepts, Once Only Technical System, Single Digital Gateway (Mervi Kylmänen-Paakki)

  • The Single Digital Gateway (SDG) is one of the most ambitious EU eGovernment initiatives to digitalise public administration. It is then no small feat that this CBDS project, focusing on legal and technical aspects of the OOP architecture in the Single Digital Gateway regulation (SDGR), received praise from the European Commission earlier this year.

    Since then, Project manager Mervi Kylmänen-Paakki and her team have ended their mission, and are now ready to share their results. At the seminar, she will present the core findings and possible ways forward. As the SDG-regulation has an implementation date 12. December, this session couldn’t be more relevant.

• 11:15: How to enable cross-border use of eIDs? A declaration on identity matching. (Raul Eks, Ken Laas , Ismail Özkan)

  • The Nordic-Baltic eID Cooperation (NOBID) project works with the overall aim to enable citizens of our region to use their national eID solution from their home country, to access and enjoy digital services in another country in the region. The project plays a vital role in enhancing cross-border digital mobility and service provisioning in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
    
    One of the key elements of achieving cross-border use of eIDs, is identity matching. As a result of the collaboration in NOBID, a political declaration was recently signed by the Nordic and Baltic ministers for digitalization. In this session, the agreed principles that constitute this declaration will be presented.

• 12:00: Lunch

• 13:00: Digital identity wallets – pilots, opportunities, and challenges for the Nordic-Baltic region (Runar Ugelstad , Riitta Partala, Sarah Amandusson, Ismail Özkan , Tangui Coulouarn)

  • Last year, the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) awarded multiple consortiums with presence from the Nordic and Baltic region to test and leverage the proposed European Digital Identity Wallet. In the digital realm, the wallet is communicated by the European Union as the next moon landing, and symbolizes giant leap towards user-centric digital transformation and online autonomy.
    
    In this session, a panel discussion amongst consortia will commence, offering insights to their work and what benefits and use cases the wallet may offer.

• 14:00: Leave no one behind - Digital Inclusion in action, delivery of a white paper (Sigrid Jessen, Herman Walby)

  • The Nordic and Baltic countries are among the most digitally mature countries in the world. With this level of digitalization, also comes a responsibility to make sure that no one is left behind. Here, the issuance and use of electronic identity means plays a key role. This is because eIDs are highly related to access to digital services.
    
    An expert working group within the NOBID project is mapping out the challenges various user groups are facing in relation to different operations on obtaining or using eIDs in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The group has also looked at existing and planned solutions for parts of these challenges. Through a collaboration with the “Digital Inclusion in Action” project led by Nordregio, this working group has extended its´ scope beyond the countries in the NOBID project to include Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland as well.
    
    This session will give an overview of elements that impact the issuance and use of eIDs, the various challenges different user groups are facing, and give examples of promising solutions for some of these challenges.

• 14:30: Coffee break

• 14:45: Public sector and artificial intelligence, an unexpected union? (Heather Broomfield , Pilleriin Lillemets)

  • “In her “A Union that strives for more - My agenda for Europe” from 2019, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stated that:

    “Data and AI are the ingredients for innovation that can help us to find solutions to societal challenges, from health to farming, from security to manufacturing. In order to release that potential we have to find our European way, balancing the flow and wide use of data while preserving high privacy, security, safety and ethical standards.”

    Since then, the EU has pursued an aggressive strategy for both sharing of data and AI, with several actions and initiatives.

    AI is now at the top of the agenda for many Nordic and EU Countries. The possibilities from the use of AI in the public sector are undoubtably tremendous, and the dialogue, perspectives and indeed examples of use are many. But:

    Do we have a common understanding of what is possible to achieve by using AI in our public sectors?

    Do we comprehend the level of transformation this can bring to the public sector?

    The Nordic social democratic model is a standard for which to strive. Is AI an opportunity or a threat to this model? Is public leadership making conscious informed choices about the direction?

    Three speakers will share their thoughts and discuss these questions from different angles, setting the scene for different perspectives on AI in the public sector. Hopefully, everyone will gain new insights and questions to ponder from this session.

• 16:05: Aperitif