 Hi, welcome. Today we're talking about how CEDA and the government of Aruba are paving the way to a safer travel experience, and they're doing that by using verifiable credentials that's based on open source technology and standards. So here with me today, we have two guests. I'll be moderating this discussion for you. Let me start off with Yuri. Yuri, would you like to introduce yourself? Yes, my name is Yuri Feliciano. I'm the Innovation Advisor for the Minister of Tourism and Health, and I've had it for the past two years. Most of the innovation during COVID, and I have another site project as the e-government pilot project manager. And we also have Adrienne Wissida. Adrienne, would you like to do an introduction? Hello, sure. So my name is Adrienne Sanglier. I'm a Program Manager at CEDA Lab. CEDA is the IT provider for the transport travel industry, connecting airline, airport and government. And at the lab, we are really the research arm of CEDA and looking at the blockchain and digital ID research and how it makes sense and value for the industry. And I'm Heather Dahl. I'm CEO of NDCO. What makes this session really special is that Adrienne, Yuri and I have been working together for what marks the two-year anniversary about this project that really these are some of the very first conversations we've had with others about what we've learned and experienced over the past two years. The significant progress that we have made with verifiable credentials, including contributing back to the open source community, and then what is the path forward with what we've proven and demonstrated and successfully deployed. Adrienne, I want to start with where most people should always begin when developing the verifiable credentials is what was the problem? What if you can talk to us about the problem that CEDA was looking to solve at the very beginning of our collaboration two years ago? Can you share that for the audience? Sure. So really, I think international travel had become more complicated than ever with the pandemic. I mean, we've seen a lot of inspiration of documents and even we traveled long haul and you always have to print a bunch of papers to go to the airport and you're not really sure which one's going to be mandatory, which one's going to be used, inspected and when, whether you have enough or too many. So I think the big problem has been so everything was paper-based. The changing entry requirements also was a big issue and as the systems were not ready, the service check-in was disabled, whether it was by Kiosk or online or mobile. So to fix that, the big problem was how can we enable the government to take an informed decision about the entry of an individual to a given jurisdiction? So we need to enable a conversation between the passenger and arrival government and provide that arrival government with access to verifiable information. And therefore, we can enable that pre-clearance or determination of entry ahead of the travel day. Therefore, as a traveler, I can arrive at the airport with, let's say, a safer or a better piece of mind. And your Adrian talks about arriving at the airport with a piece of mind, but it's hard to believe two years ago the island was closed and arriving at the airport wasn't an option. Can you talk to us about your role in managing public health in order to reopen the island and what was the problem the government of Aruba was looking to solve in order to facilitate people arriving back at the airport again? Yes, like you said, for the first time in the Aruba history, the airport was closed. We depend from tourism over 90%. So it was a really big shock for the island to close the airport. And just the planning to opening it up brings all the exact problems that Adrian was talking about. Everybody was used to online check-in, not have so much paperwork in hand, especially not coming to Aruba. So to Aruba, you would have just jump on the plane and come. That would have been the best deal. And now you have all these restrictions not only on testing, but also on the embarkation, the embarkation, things that were not mandatory before the pandemic. But for health, it was a longer step, I would say, in terms that we never had any type of health check at the airport. So you would always come in and there was never an issue of you have to be vaccinated, tested or anything like this. So at the first glance, we started two years ago, it was testing here at the airport and setting up the system in order for the traveler to stay as less possible in quarantine as they are able to. And from that on, you would have all these testing coming in and became a bigger problem on what tests are real, what papers are real, and how do we check this? So this was a bigger deal for the not only border control, but for the health department in order to cross the border and roam freely on the island. It was really the challenge of trying to manage the massive amount of data that you had to receive. And also making sure that it was authoritative data was an undertaking in a normal year would be, but during the pandemic it was an extra challenge. And so what we want to do is take a look at the Aruba happy traveler card that we first deployed on the island. And this is a video that we launched one year ago when we first deployed the solution on the island for the first time. So what we'd like to do is play it for the audience to take a look at what we accomplished in our first year together to us a little bit about what we just watched and how that worked a year ago. And then what's happened since then? Right, it was already a year ago. So I think really what we demonstrated during this trial and this trial with real people, it was not just a lab story, is that decentralized identity works to exchange health data. It works on the island. It solves an actual problem. It was put on the hands of people. And well, it was simple. You do not need to establish point to point connections. Of course, it's decentralized. And then it's secure. Well, it's based on all the cryptographic work that has been done up to now, of course, relaying a lot on hyperledger. And finally, it is preserving data privacy because, well, it follows all the mechanism and the principles of self-survying identity. So then once we proven it works for health data, what we've done was to enrich this trust platform, this mechanism to exchange sensitive data between people. And we added other issues from other jurisdictions. So we connected healthcare providers from Canada, from the US for individuals to be able to claim their health data using the platform and share them with the government of Aluba. So that before even the day of travel, before the international travel, we can achieve our goal, which was to clear somebody before they go to the airport. And that was really interesting because we could exchange so this health information directly to the ETS system that the government of Aluba had in place already. So we're reusing software and process that were already in place, of course, before this project. And the government of Aluba can take, say, the determination of entry. And also, which I think is very important, is give a reward to that individual in form of another verifiable credential. It's a kind of a digital receipt. And it is a proof of I am prickly. So what we call the trusted travel credential or the happy travel account, specifically in this project. So therefore, if I'm the traveler, I can do all this. I can run this process ahead of travel three days before travel. And then I am happy when I go to the airport. I know I have proof of entry on my wallet. And I won't worry about the next steps in my travel. So Yuri, we really, I mean, created this trusted digital ecosystem with this platform. How do you see an ecosystem like this that we proved out? How did it benefit the island over the past year? But then also this concept of trusting an ecosystem moving forward now that we're in this new phase of the post pandemic, if one wants to describe it that way? Yeah, well, I think you said before was important also how much data the island was receiving. And how important it was to protect the traveler. We had different pilots, not only with CETA, but with other institutions or entities. And the idea was always to have this verifiable data that you know it's real and that you know it either comes from the source or a trusted middle person. And we started before this project, gaining ground on others. And you see how hard it was to do this, especially for a small island on a, let's say, some type of a one to one. So this was a big, a big part of the decision on this project also, exactly what the agent was just saying that how they were connecting to different labs and different institutions within different states that would already collect that data and run that part of the process. And then it would be easier for our part of the process to run. And I think that was very important in the beginning in order to have this verifiable data. And on top of it, it was all this, the decentralized and how you have this credential. So this was something that no other entity or whatever pilot we were running with others had. So this was also important and that you see the video and how it was run with real people like agent said, but also that how easy it was in order just to have this credential in your pocket and be not only there at the store, but also pre verified because you were already held pretty clear before you came to the island, which is, yeah, for a traveler was very important for us and also tourism in the type of cancellations or anything like this. So that was the main point of getting into the project. Now that we already hear that we know it's proven we use see many more ways to use not only on the health credentials, one of them. Again, this shows a lot of interoperability for the health part, especially for a small island. We didn't have a lot of interoperability here on the island. And in the past two years, it grew a lot more. But from all that growth, you have a lot of centralization. And this project proves right the opposite that you can have all this interoperability without going full centralized or in many ways to have the traveler have the power to use this type of credentials. So I think moving forward, there is the health part, but more importantly for tourism, I do work for the Minister of Tourism and Health, which was also a big, big push for all this innovation and the collaboration that we've been doing. But for the tourism part, you see a lot of what agents said in the first part, the pre clearance itself, that you are able to use these credentials not only for a health verification, but also to pre clear the border itself and have a much seamless travel experience for sure. Yari, one of the things that really stood out when we first started collaborating, I should say two things that really stood out when we first started collaborating was the government of Aruba's commitment to protecting the privacy of the traveler and their health data and also their travel data. And the second thing that really stood out to me, I mean, from the very beginning was the commitment to open source and open standards as an approach for Aruba, not only with what we were solving, but also the longer term, why were both of these important to you? Well, it was new, I think for governments it is, especially the part of open source. But one important thing was, I think agent was also saying that about how we adapt certain parts of the process. So we were able to use open source for one part of the process and going into other parts that were not open source or legacy or anything like this. And I think this helped this project very much that we were able to go ahead with an open source project like this as it covers a certain part of the process. Important for us also, especially again for Small Island, is a vendor lock. One of the nice things about open source, and we did this back in December, was using multiple apps for the same wallet and for the same credentials. So this is very important for us for budgetary and shows a new way of introducing vendors and software also to the island. And part of the reason why we were able to introduce multiple wallets, for instance, last December was because that commitment to open source and inter-op-a-thons, and et cetera that we've been promoting with that open source community. Adrienne, from our very first conversation two years ago, it was CEDA's position that you really wanted the foundation of this type of solution built to open source and open standards. And when we were running the deployment a year ago, a very interesting development happened when we were in the midst of that. And that would be with Linux Foundation Public Health. So maybe you can talk to us a bit more about why open source CEDA and then what that led to. Right. So to start with, I would say adoption is always a big challenge in the centralized identity. You need that critical mass from which you get really the value of the ecosystem. And we've seen that also from previous research because we've been investigating the value of ecosystem and decentralized identity for our industry as a whole. And we've seen quickly that transparency and trust is the key to this level of adoption we want to be. So how does that work? Well, with all the stakeholders involved, it comes with transparency. And therefore, open source was our natural choice. And we have to keep in mind that the air travel community is represented by many stakeholders with very different jobs, I would say, and roles for the travel journey. We have to our airline, airports, all the handlers, the company involved, the security and specialized company, and finally the government. So representing a very diverse industry, we need also to be very neutral. And that's also why we've been naturally towards an open source based implementation. And from this, it was also very obvious that we would give back to the open source community. And that's why we decided after, well, we got the first successes, I mean, we proven the technology works to solve that problem, that CETA will donate the code used for the trial to Linux Foundation, and that gave birth to Cardia. And those are, as I said, the umbrella of Linux Foundation public health, because it was all about exchanging health data between all the participants. And that's today, that's an active community. And it's very hot warming to see that many and more and more organizations and individual are joining this, this company. And we, we meet every, every Thursday. And there's also a lot of Cardia interperson also when we demonstrate interoperability. It is a key. I mean, we won't, I think today we cannot see or conquer the world plants by a single organization anyway. So the key is interoperability and focus on what's, what's there really. So I mean, that's the big success is seeing that community growing definitely under the umbrella of Linux Foundation. And that's what was so awesome about this, like Yuri talked about is we've not only grown this project between all of us on the session right now, but the interoperathon helped seed interoperability, for instance, liquid avatar wallet, the ID ramp wallet, all work within the system because of Cardia is that anchoring point. One of the things, whether it's the interoperathon or all the trials, deployments, meetings, everything that we've gone through for the last two years, I think there are a lot of folks watching this session who are saying, I'm about to embark on maybe my first trial, my first MVP demo. And what I want to know is what you learned since you, we could be, you know, ahead of a number of folks on this. And so Yuri, what words of wisdom lessons learned, would you impart to those who are watching us saying, what can I learn from you to help me succeed going forward? Yeah, persistence, of course. That's number one. And I think in the last session, I said trust header. That was one of the big ones also. I think it's especially for us. In the beginning, it was something new. And specifically for the government, it was unseen, you know, open source, you're talking about fiber credential decentralization and all these things that normally a government will not take. So yeah, my main advice for person doing in my position was your pace. What's your pace? It was important for me and for CETA and Hader and Indonesia to see how far we go at each certain point. So not to overstep, but also not to lose our momentum and just kept going. But yes. And yeah, the other thing is it's a lot technical stuff, for sure. But we were very happy to have an issue on this. So that was well covered. And most of other projects, you have a lot more technical discussions than we did in this one, for sure, with with Indonesia and CETA. So yeah, be persistent for sure. I think Adrian, we all like to think progress is a straight line up into the right. But as Yuri referenced, ours was a little bit more of a twist and turn to the right upper right. And what advice do you have for people listening in on this session about succeeding with verifiable credentials? Right. So yeah, definitely not a straight line indeed, but very rewarding journey anyway. So I would say, well, first make sure you do your due diligence and data. Because yeah, just enough is perfect. For example, the government of a ruban or the immigration agency will likely need all the information on the passenger identity. Of course, because there is a legislation and the policy saying, well, I need to be sure I'm talking to the right person and identify that person's family. However, if I am the owner of a touristic venue or a teleceptionist or the waiter at a casino, I might not need all your information about yourself, especially in a context where there is health requirements. My job is to make sure the players and the employees are safe. So I wouldn't look into all the individual personal information. I just want to know whether the government of a ruban, because I'm working on this tradition, approved this person to gather publicly. And that answers the needs of all the stakeholders in the given ecosystem. And that's the beauty of Verifiable Credentials too. You can reveal, you can answer a question without revealing the actual information with your knowledge proof. So we largely used this feature and that provided a lot of value also to solve that problem. So focus on what you need on the data and just what you need. Finally, so the second piece of advice I would say is we talk about that interoperability, I think that's key. There's no single provider. So make sure you work against standards. You develop on standardized protocol methods and be open also towards networks and be on top of what has been there. Then one thing I used to say is there's no magic on decentralized identity. What we are doing is finally digitalization of current processes. And you need to reach a certain level also of automation because this is only when it is automated, it provides value to the process. So you still need to integrate APIs and data and work on processes to reach treated value. So you still have to spend time on your assessment on integration, on test, it's a normal IT project. And finally, I would say make sure you dedicate enough time on your project on educating all your stakeholders. Because the model is so simple on decentralized identity that people will not believe it at the first glance. So make sure you create a collateral and videos and presentation and you talk to people about that famous strangle of trust so that people understand it. And then you will likely get more and more value out of your projects. I couldn't agree with you more, Adrian. The amount of time that we spent on education, but also marketing and communications far exceeded what we first thought would be needed because you're right, it's so simple. But in one sense, people are saying, okay, can I hear it again? Can I learn more? And so communications and marketing of this is really important. And I think where it really came to be was a few days ago, you know, Eury, Euryba prides itself as one happy island. But I think we had one happy moment a few days ago when SIDA and Euryba and DCA won the Copenhagen European Identity and Cloud Conference Award for Verifiable Credentials. Talk to us about that and how you see that award providing meaningful validation for everyone moving forward. So that's for me. Oh, that's for Eury. Yes, I think Adrian should go first because he accepts the award. He has a full speech already. But I wanted to say one thing from one of the lessons and Adrian was mentioning is this part of the process. I think one thing that I've learned and especially in the last two years is this type of compartmentalization of the processes. So that we only did a specific part. It's an IT project. You have to connect, you have to integrate. But we did only that part without affecting the other parts. And as we moved along, we did another part that was not even connected to maybe the first part. But I think that is very important that you have that specific process done and integrated. And then we can continue. For the award, yes, it was, I think as the three of us know, it was a surprise. Very happy surprise. But it was very nice to see at the conference, like-minded and very high-level networking events that understood the project. And not only understood, but also in a way say, oh, this is what we have to do or this is the future. And I think for Adrian and us, it was a little shocking because we're already doing it. So that is very hard sometimes for someone to tell you, yeah, it's what we have to do, but yes, we're already doing it. So it's a shock. And I'm still on a high from it for sure. And trying to just keep educating. I think that that is a very important thing that Adrian said also just this part of the education that we did and that we keep doing right now that we have to keep doing, especially with the help of the award. Adrian, you were the one who accepted the award on behalf of all of the teams. And you talked about your vision because really, CEDA had been working on verifiable credentials before the pandemic. And so this approach and what we were recognized for stems many years in the making. Can you talk to us a bit more about that vision and the award and your words of wisdom going forward beyond for air travel? Yeah, so there was a very big emotional moment. And it was great to share it with you, with you both. So really, the vision about, you know, streamlining all the steps of the long haul trip has been there for a long time. Many people have been working also on this. I mean, it's, we know it's a next challenge for the air travel industry. And why is this? Well, if you go on a trip, a business trip or leisure trip, think about the number of times you take your passport out of your pocket and disclose all your personal information to people you do not necessarily know or trust even think about, you know, well, you open your passport page to all the security agents, the checking agent from the airline and maybe the baggage handler and hotel receptionist and the car rental waiter and so on. So really today, international travel is like shooting your name on the street and your marital status and where you live. And all of these with a lot of cues and, and, and, and starring, and especially, you know, more now is the context of the pandemic and post pandemic. So what can we do about that? And that's why Sita and Sita Lab, we made a big bet on variable credentials. And, and I think with your word, we were starting to see we made the right bet. And there was, there was a good news. And so I would say for the years to come or the months to come is as a variable credential or reusable. How can we use them once they are validated and approved by an authority such as, well, the governor of Aruba immigration says, yes, you are this person, because the identity information was was verified because it was it was in it could be exchanged in the form of a variable credential. Then I can reuse it to with all the steps in the trial continuum. So the car rental, for example, might need to know whether you you actually entered the country to that. I don't know, they can prepare the car. The hotel receptionist can then, you know, combine your identity with just name and surname. They need to know much more. But knowing that this information has been already verified and trusted by the government of Aruba creates higher value and can be combined with the proof of your booking. And then you can proceed to automated check-in at the hotel. So this is all about making the trip seamless and more private and leveraging this power of variable credential or reusable and can also be derived from the trust anchor, what we call the trust anchor. In this vision we have, it is something that is absolutely transformational and it can also be daunting. And I think that gets out all what Yuri was saying too is we really started simple. And for those who are thinking about going down this path, I think we would all encourage you is just start building, start simple and build and that there's no need to wait for the next great thing or the next shiny object or the next thing that's going to be better because all the code that was used exists today and is available today and is an open source. And so those listening have everything right now to start building and to do it in incremental steps to have collaboration partners that work with you every step of the way and the stakeholders can be internal to your company that can be partnerships like our three organizations have. And I would say from my standpoint I've been working in this space for quite a few years now and the work that we did over the past two years has been the most, one of the most professionally rewarding experiences because we got in there, we built, we learned, we challenged each other and we kept pushing forward and it was about tenacity to get to the point that we had that recognition by EIC and it probably also made that recognition even more exciting for us because we know that what we had experienced to get to that point in the ground that we broke together. It's been an absolute one of the best experiences working with you, your teams, our team putting this all together and so I encourage those listening if you want to learn more you can go to cardia.app for more information. You can also see a number of the materials and collateral at CEDA and Aruba have released talking about this or by all means and we have social media profiles you can reach out directly. So I do want to say thank you Yuri and Adrienne for taking this time out and for everyone that has joined us in this session we appreciate you being here. So enjoy the rest of the conference and thank you, have a good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you.