We are happy to announce that two of our students Cecilie Callesen and Signe Agerskov have been chosen to pressent at this years Thesis Talk at IT University of Copenhagen.
Their thesis investigates the implementation and adoption of Self-Sovereign Identity, a blockchain-based digital identity.
Based on 27 interviews of official employees and SSI start-ups, they identify obstacles preventing the adoption of SSI and presents 7 recommendations to support the diffusion of self-sovereign identity. Below the recommendations are presented in short.
1. Identify influential stakeholders that can act as change agents.
2. Find collaboration partners with a decentralised mindset, that understands the potential of SSI.
3. Spread knowledge of SSI and use interpersonal channels to ensure effective and successful communication.
4. Establish SSI ecosystems with companies and persons that have already shown interest in SSI. This ensures a shared understanding, motivation, and interest.
5. Create proof-of-concepts, pilots, use-cases, and standards, to attract early adopters who are hesitant to accept the solution due to uncertainties.
6. Support a commercialised SSI and a European framework and ecosystem (such as the European Blockchain Service Infrastructure), to lower the risks of adopters in general, and governments in particular.
7. Establish a collaboration between the public and private sector to ensure trust, interoperability, and that the critical mass of adopters is reached.
“We found that the diffusion of the nascent phenomenon had not yet reached the critical mass of adoption. Furthermore, we found that the attitude towards SSI was affected by the knowledge levels of potential adopters, and that a collaboration between the private and the public sector would increase knowledge levels and cultivate further development of SSI. Lastly, the results of our research suggested that the reluctance of adoption was caused by the stakeholders’ behaviour of waiting on initiatives from other stakeholder groups. This could be seen in how the SSI Developer group waited on regulations from governments, and the Government group waited for the EU to provide a framework for SSI.”
Citation from thesis, Cecille Callesen & Signe Agerskov