Gradiant showcases Europe’s strength in defending privacy and digital identity
Gradiant drives a sovereign digital identity model and advanced data protection technologies in European data spaces
This alliance hosted a webinar in support of European collaboration to build a more secure and user-centric digital ecosystem
On June 19, the webinar “Privacy and Digital Identity in European Data Ecosystems” was held, organized and coordinated by Gradiant as part of the European initiative TRUSTED. The session brought together a broad group of experts, technology institutions, and digital policy stakeholders to discuss the main challenges and advances in developing secure, sovereign, and privacy-focused digital identity frameworks.
The event served as a platform to showcase the latest developments within the TRUSTED project, which is funded with nearly €4 million through the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme. With a clear focus on building a trustworthy and privacy-respecting data ecosystem, the session highlighted both the current challenges around digital identity and the technological solutions being designed to overcome them within the European landscape.
Throughout the webinar, the speakers emphasized the need to develop digital identity models based on user sovereignty, interoperability, and compliance with EU regulations. Advanced technologies such as homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and federated learning were presented as essential tools to ensure secure data usage without compromising privacy.
One key topic was TRUSTED’s collaboration with other European initiatives focused on protecting digital identities, such as DC4EU, and the practical case of CGCOM (Spanish Medical Council), where TRUSTED is being applied as a solution for medical certifications.
European collaboration to build a more secure and user-centric digital ecosystem
The webinar also showcased the value of transnational cooperation in building a safer European digital environment. TRUSTED is made up of ten entities from five countries: in addition to Gradiant (Spain) as project coordinator, the consortium includes Tree Technology and Fundación Cibervoluntarios (Spain), InfoCert (Italy), Fraunhofer AISEC and Fraunhofer ISST (Germany), Promptly Health and Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Coimbra (Portugal), Sestek (Turkey), and Fondazione Mondo Digitale (Italy), among others.
Throughout the event, each partner’s role in TRUSTED was explained. Jaime Loureiro, Head of Data Security at Gradiant and technical coordinator of the project, introduced the main goals in the European privacy context, emphasizing the leadership in developing technologies such as sovereign identity systems, advanced encryption, and secure data sharing.
Dialogue between European projects: a shared vision for the digital future
One of the most enriching aspects of the webinar was the participation of representatives from other European projects also focused on digital identity and data privacy. This open exchange helped build bridges between complementary initiatives that together are shaping the future of Europe’s digital ecosystem.
From CGCOM, Nacho Alamillo spoke about the DC4EU project, which promotes the large-scale adoption of digital credentials across Europe. In addition, Laia Bota presented a practical case on professional medical certifications, showing how these tools are being applied in real and sensitive contexts.
Francisca Rubio, Director General of Gaia-X Spain, provided an institutional view of European data spaces. Luca Boldrin (InfoCert) analyzed the connection between TRUSTED and eIDAS 2.0, while Georg Bramm (Fraunhofer AISEC) explained how privacy-enhancing technologies will enable decentralized and secure data sharing.
The webinar also featured other initiatives such as LICORICE, presented by Diana Jiménez (Trialog), who introduced innovative tools for identity and data protection. Kyriakoulis Nikolaos from the University of Patras shared updates on the CONSENTIS project, focused on managing digital consent within the EU. These contributions reinforced TRUSTED’s alignment with a broader European strategy aimed at ensuring citizens’ sovereignty over their data, compliance with common standards, and interoperability across sectors and solutions.
The event was closed by Matías Schuster, Project Manager at Gradiant and General Coordinator of TRUSTED, who summarized the session’s key messages and outlined the next steps for the consortium.
This first webinar firmly positioned TRUSTED as a leading initiative in the development of sovereign digital identity technologies, while highlighting the importance of European cooperation to build safer, more ethical, and user-centric environments for data exchange in Europe.
The TRUSTED project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101168467.
