16 May | 15:30 – 16:45 (CEST)
Webinar: Building a sovereign and secure digital future – How DIGIT can help you become a digital innovator
Gain a fresh perspective on building resilient, decentralised and federated digital infrastructure with real impact.
This webinar took place on Friday 16 May 2025. You can download the session slides here:
Description
The team behind the “Once-Only Technical System” recently won the ‘Digital Commission Award for ‘Team demonstrating the most multidisciplinary approach for digital-ready policymaking’. This webinar invites you to hear from this team in how it approaches building resilient decentralised and federated digital infrastructure and how it can help you and your teams, units, directorates and services do the same.
During this webinar, experts from DIGIT.B.3’s building blocks and innovative services team will introduce the “behind the scenes” of the Once-Only Technical System:
- Division of labor – How clearly defined expert sub-groups backed by a strong governance framework are essential to ensure project success.
- Cloudification – How Kubernetes can be used for rock-solid multi-cloud provider deployments and other technologies for bulletproof deployment sync. This battle-tested cloud technologies deliver a standardised, repeatable framework that eliminates deployment drift, enforces consistency, and bakes in security from the ground up.
- Ops Governance – How establishing well-defined operational frameworks to maintain clear separation of duties and accountability between the Commission and the Member States.
- Reusable building blocks – How reusable building blocks accelerate go-live timelines and reduce risks by leveraging proven, pre-existing solutions.
- Testing before investing – How events like Projectathons and Accelerators play a critical role in building a successful community of implementers.
- Community-driven – Large-scale implementations thrive on a strong sense of community that fuels momentum, fosters collaboration, and drives lasting impact.
Agenda
MAY 16
15:30 – 15:35
Introduction
Caroline Corneau, DIGIT
15:35 – 15:50
Once-Only, a successful project for an innovative Europe
Thomas Fillis, DIGIT-EXT
15:50 – 16:00
Once-Only Demo
Matteo Setti, DIGIT-EXT
16:00 – 16:15
Building modern and modular European infrastructure on Digital sovereignty principles
Jose Manuel Panizo Plaza – DIGIT
Joao Rodrigues Frade – DIGIT
16:15 – 16:30
Going into production & next steps
Flora Kardos, DIGIT
Guillermo Liarte Cano, DIGIT-EXT
16:30 - 16:45
Q&A
Context
Once-Only means a simpler, more resilient digital environment in Europe. The Once-Only Technical System lets EU public authorities securely exchange official documents and data at the request of citizens and businesses as part of cross-border administrative procedures, e.g., when registering an address or vehicle when moving abroad.
As we move through different stages of life, we create a “data chain”, consisting of official records of our most important life events, stored in public registers. These official data sets, held in public registers, are the foundation of modern societies and are used in all types of daily transactions. However, when life takes you across European borders your data sets become more fragmented and difficult to access. In this way, the more you benefit from the four freedoms Europe offers, as a person or a business, the more difficult it is to interact with public administrations.
The Once-Only Technical System is the missing link, it creates your European Data chain.
As a large-scale European initiative, Once-Only is a federated system built on sound sovereignty principles. This means that the technology design prioritises open specifications based on international standards. It emphasis decentralisation, user control, and long-term sustainability. This ensures that there is no dependency on a single company or entity but allows large and small players, from in and outside the EU, to participate in its creation. In other words, sovereign software should be platform-agnostic and multi-vendor, designed for multi-cloud provider deployments, combined with robust security controls.
The event organisers
The building blocks and innovative services team in DIGIT.B.3 as a Unit in the Directorate-General for Digital Services (DIGIT) is dedicated to enabling the secure and efficient exchange of information in the digital age. Our goal is to help our stakeholders build trust in their digital interactions, streamline their workflows, and improve their cybersecurity posture. To achieve this, B.3 delivers innovative, reliable, and cost-effective solutions that meet users’ evolving needs, while maintaining the highest standards of security, privacy, and compliance.
Speakers
Joao Rodrigues
Frade
is the head of sector for Building Blocks and Innovative Solutions within DIGIT and leads the implementation of Once-Only within DIGIT.
Caroline
Corneau
works as IT Project Officer for the Once-Only Technical System within DIGIT.B.3.
Flora
Kardos
works as Operations Manager for the Once-Only Technical System as well as Service Manager for EU Send and eTrustEx.
Jose Manuel
Panizo Plaza
works as IT Product Officer in DIGIT.B.3 and specialises in digital identity, cybersecurity and blockchain.
Thomas
Fillis
works on communications and outreach for the Once-Only Technical System within DIGIT.
Matteo
Setti
works on User Experience (UX) design for the Once-Only Technical System within DIGIT.
Guillem
Liarte
is an experienced Systems and Enterprise Architect leading DevOps and Infrastructure Architecture efforts on DIGIT-B3 projects like EBSI and OOTS.
The audience
You have received this invitation as a colleague working in a European Union Institution, Body or Agency (EUIBA) who has subscribed to receive information on events organised in relation to the Once-Only Technical System and/or the Digital Building Blocks. We warmly invite your colleagues who have not been directly invited to register here.
Linked Docs