Page 44 - U4SSC Blockchain for smart sustainable cities

Opportunities Challenges

• A solution has been developed that appears • It is difficult to innovate effectively, especially
to address the technical, legal and individual with the target group in mind. People in debt
requirements for privacy and data sharing are often not comfortable with high-tech
between government agencies. solutions; therefore, a careful co-design pro-
• This solution allows the individuals to con- cess is needed to ensure that the solution will
trol their personal data and to communicate meet their needs.
what they choose to reveal between govern- • There is also a risk that this project will not be
ment agencies. The zero-knowledge proof accepted by the ‘identity’ ecosystem because
validates the information without passing on it would mean a significant shift in the way
any details. identity is dealt with. Self-sovereign identity
• The problem of sharing sensitive data between is a new idea; hence it may be difficult to get
government agencies is widespread. A solu- people on board to scale-up the solution.
tion that addresses this effectively could lead • A single implementation partner and/or
to improvements in many public services. technology raises questions about technol-
• Blockchain is an appropriate technology ogy lock-in, which should be avoided. Hence,
for this solution because it is decentralized; the project is also looking for a way to allow
hence no one actor has control of the data. multiple parties and solutions to join in the
Individuals have control of their data and decentralized identity ecosystem.
there is no single point of failure. • “Zero-knowledge proof” is not yet mature.
• This solution offers the potential for people Currently, they are the subject of scientific
without formal identities to gain them, and research articles and not completely imple-
thus gain access to the government (and pri- mented or existing implementations are
vate) services. limited.

34 U4SSC: Blockchain for smart sustainable cities