The swiyu Launchpad

With swiyu, Switzerland is building a public trust infrastructure for the e-ID and other electronic credentials. Its value shows where verifiable information is used in real applications.

The swiyu Launchpad brings together businesses, public authorities, universities, associations and civil society to identify such applications, test them and put them into practice. DIDAS runs the Launchpad as the ecosystem orchestrator designated by the Swiss Confederation for credentials from business, education and civil society.

We start from concrete processes: Which information do organisations exchange and check today? Who can reliably confirm it? Which credentials simplify or automate workflows? Which services become possible when data can be verified directly and reused digitally?

The Launchpad connects these questions with the technical, organisational and regulatory levels. Ideas become implementable use cases, and individual applications become reusable foundations for the ecosystem.

Unite, don’t fragment. We connect existing initiatives, knowledge and actors and build on them.

Digital verification is becoming a basic capability of business and society. Contracts are concluded digitally, permissions granted online, goods traded across borders and decisions increasingly automated. This requires certainty about where a piece of information comes from, who stands behind it and what a person or organisation is authorised to do.

Electronic credentials make such information machine-verifiable and directly usable in digital processes. This applies to identity data as well as to qualifications, licences and powers of representation, and to information about organisations, products, transactions or processes. The state e-ID is an important building block of this trust infrastructure.

The result is simpler processes, more automation, and new digital services and forms of collaboration across organisational and system boundaries. The Launchpad opens up these opportunities through concrete use cases from business and civil society.

The starting point is a concrete process, problem or business opportunity.

Together with the actors involved, we make the trust flow visible: Who provides which information? Who holds or uses it? Who checks it, and why can the information be trusted? Which data does the purpose actually require? Which trust anchors, technical mechanisms and governance rules are needed?

To answer these questions, we combine sector expertise with knowledge of digital trust mechanisms, technical specifications, standards and governance frameworks.

Applications, governance and standards evolve together. Practical experience improves the shared foundations, and established standards and governance frameworks make new applications easier to build.

Interoperable digital trust depends on several layers working together. DIDAS contributes in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms and specifications of modern trust infrastructure: issuance and verification, wallets, trust registries and trust anchors, cryptographic proofs, selective disclosure, data models and the protocols for exchanging electronic credentials.

For each use case we assess which specifications and standards fit, which profiles or schemas are needed and how the solution stays interoperable with existing and emerging ecosystems.

DIDAS contributes to the application and further development of relevant standards and governance frameworks. Findings from Swiss use cases feed into international standardisation, and international developments are taken into account early in Swiss applications.

Global Standards, Local Governance.

A working trust ecosystem needs clear roles and rules alongside technical interoperability: Who issues credentials under which requirements, who verifies them, and on what basis do participants trust an issuer, verifier or other actor?

Governance is therefore part of every use case from the start. With the actors involved, we clarify roles and responsibilities, trust models, requirements for issuers and verifiers, relevant policies and the prerequisites for use across organisations.

Where suitable governance frameworks exist, we build on them. Where new applications require additions, we make these visible and feed the findings into the further development of the ecosystem.

New applications often emerge where technology, existing processes and regulation meet. In regulated sectors, the Launchpad supports a structured dialogue between businesses, professional bodies and the competent authorities. Where appropriate, DIDAS supports regulatory sandboxing and other forms of controlled testing.

This allows regulatory requirements and technical possibilities to be examined on concrete applications. The results provide a sound basis for developing applications, governance and, where needed, the regulatory framework, with transparency for everyone involved.

When other organisations use the same credential, schema or trust model, an application becomes a reusable building block. Specifications, schemas, governance, legal findings and integration experience carry over to other processes and sectors.

The Launchpad shows which applications and credentials already exist, which are needed and which can be reused. It clarifies who can issue them, who wants to verify them and which prerequisites need to be created together.

The trust infrastructure grows with the applications built on it.

With swiyu, Switzerland has the basis for an open trust infrastructure. Its value depends on the applications and services built on it.

Businesses contribute real processes, requirements and business opportunities. Authorities and other issuers provide reliable information. Technology providers deliver products and implementation expertise. Professional bodies, academia and civil society add knowledge, perspectives and further applications.

DIDAS connects these actors and the layers of application, technology, governance, regulation and standards. This collaboration produces practical experience and reusable foundations. Switzerland brings its findings into international standards and interoperable systems and actively shapes digital trust infrastructure.

The Launchpad works by sector, including education, retail and e-commerce, banking, insurance, health, mobility, logistics and industry. Cross-sector topics include standards, governance, accessibility and the interplay between public administration and the private sector.

Getting started begins with a concrete case:

• Where do you check information, permissions or credentials today?
• Which processes would change if this information were directly verifiable?
• Which new application or service could be built on it?

Bring your use case and your expertise. DIDAS brings the relevant actors, the methodological and technical depth and the framework to develop it into a testable and reusable application.