Analyzing the Standardization Landscape for Identity Management in Public Services – A Standards Review for the IMPULSE Project

The digitalization of public services is one of the major challenges that public administrations are currently facing. Electronic identifications play a major role for a variety of these related services. Due to the impact these services will have on the daily life of citizens, organizations, and the public at large, the social dimensions must be considered equally to the technical ones. To ensure the applicability, trust, and compliance of electronic identity for access to public services, it is necessary to take into account relevant standards collected through an analysis of the state-of-the-art. In general, the literature on integrating standardization in research projects is very rare and potential impacts of standards related to electronic identification have not been assessed yet. The European project IMPULSE has integrated standardization as an essential element and assessed the relevant standardization landscape as one activity. The analysis of the standardization landscape resulted in the identification of nine formal and six de-facto standards that have high relevance for IMPULSE. The process for this analysis and the resulting dashboard will support future projects to effectively consider, analyze and use standards for their projects.