Making “Europe’s moment: Repair and prepare for the next generation”​ an reality

Introduction

The EU has passed an record bill to this effect. Two of the pillars are Green and digital transitions” of which I will discuss the digital part. I will be discussing what not to do as there are plenty of opportunities to waste this money.

The second part of what to actually do is harder but by reverse imaging of the do not part there are some solid leads on what to do. In my previous articles I have pointed out several areas where great progress with low risk can be achieved.

This would not in any sense be a complete list as there are other areas where these funds could be wisely spent but I will leave these to the people who are experts in other fields.

Don’t make digital European islands

This can not be emphasized enough, If there is no deep digital single market there will be no single market. If there is no single market there is no EU.

Much of real drama of the recovery package is the realization especially in Germany that a failure to achieve this would mark the beginning of the end of the EU project.

If the efforts on digitization is not focused on bringing to the table pan European connectivity beyond the network stack it will have exactly the same result. If we believe connectivity is limited to 5G and WiFi we will have excellently connected unrelated digital islands. To use an, analogy understandable for anybody, excellent system of rail lines but no trains to use the lines or no passengers wanting to travel by rail.

We are very much on the way toward this end currently as the digitalised countries are making a ecosystem achieving digital verification happeing but where it stops at the national borders.

Don’t think of becoming a single European island

Europe must understand that it can not become a perfectionistic and disconnected island when it comes to digitization. Minor nation states may follow this strategy for a while but Europe as such is just a to big market to stay in this state even for a short while.

Besides becoming a closed entity will never be a realistic option due to other aspects.

As a keen pro bono contributor in ISO I have the unfortunate to observe lack of European engagement especially compared to the emerging eastern economics. It is not unusual to have more Chinese experts participating than the total number of Europeans.

Now this is not done from some altruistic motive but because of an offensive understanding on the importance of securing international standards suited to their interest to enhance global competition ability.

Now this might seem like an unrelated theme given the context, however as with the CEPS report I concur that digitization can never be restricted to borders and even with a more circular economy for transitional production a more global perspective is needed for digitization.

Believing that it is possible to loose out in the global competition and dictate the rules in the single digital market is a fools proposal.

Do not assume covid to be over

Now this is good news and bad news. The good news is that this is not a second wave but a prolongment of first.

The bad news is that the second wave which will hit by all probability late this year early next year will have a magnitude based on two primary factors.

The base line or the availability of disease carriers.

The ability to adhere to social distancing.

Clearly this implies one important message.

Anything that helps short term and provides benefits long term should be prioritised and executed at speed.

Having a public consultation on eidas starting in August, open until October and evaluated until god knows when is not an example of an understanding of these points and rather a reflection of deep lack of understanding.

Don’t make Potemkin Villages

In many ways this the archetype of what not to do. It constitute a hollow entity that looks nice and perhaps even make a great headline. But as the bible says Matthew 23:27–28

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”

Now that is going a bit biblical but not completely off the mark. If you consider the pre-existing response I believe that could easily be classified under this category.

So the way to avoid this is to measure the proven effect, not stipulating how wonderful this will be (once somebody has built the missing parts).

Stop flogging a dead horses

This is basically the same as throwing good money after bad. If an initiative has been in the works for a while with no objectively measured effect in is either dead or just a Potemkin village.

Stop believing it will fly, it is just a question of patience

This is close relative to flogging a dead horse but is a creature who promises and promises it is just a question of…

History is full of the next great thing that just never happened.

Don’t make consultancies companies rich

Cooperation is very easy really. As long as everybody makes money or everybody looses money they have the same incentive.

If you create a situation where on party earns more money when things does not proceed according to plans it is simple to guess what happens. This applies also to fixed price contacts where there variation orders are applicable unless one is extremely careful as these guys like a hungry shark will always be on the lookout for the next meal.

Summary

Digital validation at the EU level is the most important aspect to achieve as well and steering clear of the temptations of putting money into digital islands, make belief initiatives or money pigs. The importance of making digital validation an reality is clearly stressed in the CEPS report as well.

This can not be stressed enough as if this does not happen there will not be an EU in 10 years.

BIO

Ronny Khan is an IT and Business development specialist within the Norwegian financial sector, who is involved in standardization effort on remote natural person identification targeting trust level high as part of a shared effort by the Banking association with public sector stakeholders as well as member of the EU expert group on eid and KYC.

He is currently working full time seconded to the banking association as liaison with key players in the public sector to ensure deployment at scale of remote on boarding for electronic identities.

He is also participating in ISO standardization, national standardization with focus on biometrics , security and identification in retail banking , a keen follower of the are of identity, identity proofing , KYC and always looking for new interesting domains. Currently he is focused on digital validation as a natural evolution of digital identities.

Previously he has been working within a broad field covering digital identities, internet bank authentication/authorization, card security and telecommunications.