EBSI Ecosystem Day Speakers

Since October 2020, Mathieu Michel has been State Secretary for Digitalization, in charge of Administrative Simplification, Privacy and the Buildings Administration.

Previously, he held the position of President of the Provincial College of Walloon Brabant for 8 years, from 2012 to 2020. He was in charge of heritage management and digitalization. Together with the Walloon Brabant Property Development Agency, he was responsible for the development of new large-scale 'New Place of Working' (NPOW) projects.

And, in terms of digital technology, Mathieu Michel has worked on the digitalization of the entire territory, turning the 27 communes of Walloon Brabant into true "smart cities". It is also with the objective to further digitize the provincial schools that they have been fully equipped with the latest computer equipment.

Artificial intelligence is one of his priorities in this area. His objective is to mark Belgium's position as a European leader in the field of AI, particularly in the field of health and energy. He is keen to demystify the use of new technologies and advocates for transparency as an essential component of technological innovation and the algorithms on which it is based. Responsible for Privacy, Mathieu Michel has taken the initiative to evaluate the Belgian Privacy Act. His ambition is to strengthen the protection of our data and the fight against harmful content.

Roberto Viola is Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission since 2015 and was the Deputy Director-General of DG CONNECT from 2012 to 2015.

Roberto Viola served as Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, as Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010. He was a member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG).

He held the position of Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM, from 2005 to 2012. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004.

From 1985-1999 he served in various positions including Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services at the European Space Agency (ESA). Roberto Viola has a degree in Electronic Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

The European Commission nominated Veronica Gaffey Director-General for Digital Services (DIGIT) from 1st March 2022. This is the Commission department, which delivers high performing digital services to support the Commission’s internal administration. It also provides services to other EU institutions and agencies, and to public authorities in the Member States to enhance their interoperability.

From 2019 to 2022 Veronica was Chair of the independent Regulatory Scrutiny Board. This Board, which is independent of the Commission services and has no policy-making responsibilities, examines the evidence base of all impact assessments for new policy proposals and most evaluations.

Veronica was Director of the Paymaster’s Office of the Commission from 2016 to 2019 and before that was Director of Resources in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy in July 2015.

Veronica Gaffey worked in the area of evaluation for 23 years of her career. She was Head of Evaluation in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission from 2007 to 2015. She joined the Evaluation Unit in 2000 from the ESF Evaluation Unit based in the Ministry for Enterprise and Employment in Dublin, Ireland. There she managed the unit from its inception in 1992. Before that, she worked in the Ministry for Labour from 1986. Her academic background is the study of English literature.

Alberto López is Deputy Director of the Innovation Lab at Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda (INCM), the Portuguese Mint. Over the last years, he has managed the INCM's participation in different EU-funded consortia, including PharmaLedger, EBSI-NE and DC4EU and is also involved in internally funded projects related to the use of blockchain and/or digital credentials in public services and administration. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Zürich and is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Management and Economics of the University of Lisbon. Alberto has been Portugal's representative in the European Blockchain Partnership since 2022 and, upon its creation, will be the Portuguese representative in the General Assembly of EUROPEUM, the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for EBSI

After obtaining his master in Organizational Psychology (ULB) and an additional degree in management, Jack Hamande acquired sound experience in international business management first at Buena Vista International (Disney Corporation), AT&T and then at Verizon Business (WorldCom). His managerial responsibilities have grown and increased over the years, especially as regards strategy, regulation, engineering and business development. In 2007, Jack Hamande joined Cisco as Manager Sales & Marketing particularly focusing on the new technologies. Two years later he took his career in a new direction by joining the public sector as Director General for personnel and organization development at the FPS Personnel & Organization. He initiated there several programs applying to the whole Belgian federal public service in areas such as efficiency, customer orientation, leadership development, performance management, NWOW and culture change. Before joining the Institute he was appointed as Director Group Public Affairs at Belgacom.

Zeljko Holik specializes in establishing national blockchain infrastructure for Croatia's public services, integrating distributed ledger technologies to enhance digital identity systems and cross-border services. His strategic roles in the Ministry of Public Administration and the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society position him as a contributor to the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). His academic background in blockchain technology, combined with extensive experience in project management and digital transformation, drives his contributions to developing EU-wide secure and interoperable digital services, aligning with the goals of the EBSI to shape the future of Europeum EDIC. Mr. Holik will be the Croatian representative in the General Assembly of EUROPEUM, the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for EBSI, upon its creation.

Angel Martín Bautista is the Deputy Head of the Planning and Governance Department of Digital Administration in the general Secretariat for Digital Administration, part of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Public Function.

Regarding his duties, he focuses on aspects such as the supervision of the work carried out in the department, with a special focus on the monitoring and execution of the Digitalization Plan for Public Administrations; having special involvement in new digital identity models. In this area, he represented Spain in the technical meetings of the new eIDAS2 Regulation during the Spanish presidency of the European Council or actively works in the coordination of Large Scale Pilots. He has previously held positions of responsibility in relation to emerging technologies, particularly highlighting Robotic Process Automation or blockchain technology, where he has been representing Spain in the European Blockchain Partnership since 2019. He has also carried out tasks related to the evaluation and analysis of the digital transformation in the Public Administration at the local, regional and central levels.

Born in Madrid he carried out simultaneously a degree in Physics and a degree in Philosophy, both at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Previously to his public sector experience, he worked 17 years in the private sector in areas such as Business Consulting, Strategy, energy sector, telecommunications, automotive Industry and ICT Technologies until he started working as a civil servant.

Iván Basart develops his professional activity as CTO of Validated ID and is one of the founders of the company. His professional career is specialized in cryptography, digital identity and digital signature services. He is currently in charge of the technical evolution of our digital signature service VIDsigner and the construction of our digital identity service (SSI), VIDidentity. He also participates in forums related to sovereign identity, such as DIF and RWOT.

Alla Aboudaka is a digital innovation expert, entrepreneur, and consultant with extensive experience advising various organisations, including the European Commission. He leads outreach, communication, and ecosystem building as the Work Package Leader for the EBSI-NE project and is actively involved with EBSI-Belgium. Alla is also the founder of Access Advisors, focusing on supporting projects with significant social and environmental impacts. His work prioritises expanding digital identity networks, aligning with EU regulations, and enhancing cybersecurity. Alla holds an Executive MBA, is a certified Blockchain Expert, and completed the Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme. He will showcase these insights at the European Commission's EBSI Ecosystem Day.

Kruno Miličević received the PhD degree in electrical engineering in 2008. He is working on projects focused on digital transformation of metrology, including the application of IoT, blockchain and cybersecurity, and digitalization of calibration and accreditation procedures. He is a member of IMEKO TC6 Digitalization, Eurolab’s WG for Digitalization, IEEE TC10 Waveform Generation, Measurement and Analysis, IEC TC85 Measuring equipment for electrical and electromagnetic quantities, Croatian Academy of Engineering and Croatian Metrology Society.

In 2021 he co-founded a company Random Red. He also holds a full professorship at FERIT Osijek in Croatia and is fluent in both English and German.

Nicolas Hauw holds two Master degree, one in political sciences and another in European and International Law, as well as a Licence of Law from the University of Aix-Marseille III (Law Faculty of Aix-en-Provence). Nicolas spent 10 years in Brussels supporting European projects and development of EU policies before joining the EUIPO in 2021 as part of the Observatory on Infringement of Intellectual Property. He spent a few years working as project manager and policy advisor in European association and networks, as well as at the EU Parliament as parliamentary assistant. Joining Deloitte in 2017 as senior consultant, he moved to Cap Gemini in 2020 as senior manager to the service of the EUIPO in a variety of project, including the Blockathon Project back in 2018. Nicolas has a high interest in the potential impact of new technologies on the enforcement of IPR.

Jean-Baptiste is leading the IT Development division, and deputy head of IT of the University of Lausanne. He has a background in Telco and consulting companies prior to joining UNIL. He has engaged the IT of the University in a modernization initiative of its legacy systems, including by participating to initiatives such as EBSI to promote stronger integration with other academic institutions in a decentralized way.

I’ve been an innovation economist and entrepreneur for more than 20 years. I co-founded FundingBox and worked at econet and PNO Consultants as a partner and funding expert. I have designed and promoted international acceleration and Technology Transfer programs that have helped hundreds of Startups and SMEs from all over Europe to get funding and expert support for their growth.

I firmly believe that if we want to take sustainable development seriously, we must fix the way we share data. Decentralized technologies can help to get the transparency, trust, and efficiency we need. I try to do my own butterfly flutter by promoting decentralized identity as the new paradigm for my field of work in financing innovation.

Steffen Schwalm has more than 15 years experiences in design, implementing and rollout of trustworthy digital ecosystems based on digital identities and trust services in high regulated industries in Europe. He works as Senior Manager Digital Identity and Trust at msg and acts His main subjects are:

• Legal Compliance and Governance (e.g. eIDAS, eIDAS 2.0 etc.)
• Decentralized digital identities and Wallets
• DLT and Blockchain
• Trust Services incl. Preservation
• Certification and Audit

Steffen Schwalm takes part in international standardization at ISO, ETSI, CEN and is author of numerous scientific publications. Since long time he supports shaping European digital identity and trust framework so currently as Co-Coordinator of TRACE4EU Consortium and Expert in EBSI VECTOR with clear focus on ensuring eIDAS Compliance of EBSI and EUDI Wallet/ QTSP using Ledger resp .QTSP for Ledger.

Johannes is a product manager at Spherity working on Digital Product Passport solutions and supply chain traceability. He has worked in the field of decentralized identity since 2018, previously with Gravity.Earth, a start-up focusing on financial and aid inclusion.

Philipp, a research assistant at the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, brings his expertise in digital credentials to the MyEduLife project. He focuses on creating secure and user-friendly systems for issuing and transferring vocational training certificates using blockchain technology.

He is involved in the implementation of the blockchain solution and deals with cryptography and data models and standards.

His passion for digital credentials goes back several years, having previously designed hybrid certificates for a language institute and actively participated in migrant integration efforts. His experience is based on his academic background in Iranian studies, communication studies and foreign language acquisition.

Damilare Peter Oyinloye is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Information Systems and Software Engineering (ISSE) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Peter's research spans across Blockchain Technology, Information Security and Cryptography. He has examined the Performance, Environmental Impact and Security of Blockchain Consensus Protocols. Currently, Peters' research is centered around the interoperability of blockchain systems and decentralized supply chain systems. He is a member of IEEE, British Computer Society (BCS), Computer Professional Council of Nigeria (CPN), Internet Society, African Blockchain Council, Malaysia Blockchain Society.

Ellen Lerouge is an experienced, hands-on software architect at the central IT department of KU Leuven.

With over 15+ years of experience in SAP Student Lifecycle Management, she is involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of administrative applications for Students at KU Leuven and the associated university colleges.

Yanis Kyriakides brings over two decades of digital innovation expertise, with a particular focus on streamlining e-commerce customs processes through advanced technologies. As CEO and Co-founder of e-Origin, his vision is to create a trusted ecosystem that promotes fair, sustainable, transparent, efficient, and secure cross-border e-commerce for all EU stakeholders and citizens. Yanis is dedicated to leveraging his vast experience in software project management and development to foster digital transformation and lead his company towards making a significant impact in the tech industry.

Rudolf Ruland works as a developer of software solutions for collaboration systems and blockchain applications at Fraunhofer FIT. In recent years, he has been developing a software system for securing certificates using blockchain technology. The system is used by the Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority, which offers various certificates for vocational training. Furthermore, the system is instrumental in multiple initiatives, including the INVITE project TripleAdapt, which receives funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Dr. Ignacio Alamillo-Domingo is a Doctor in Law, with a PhD thesis related to the eIDAS Regulation. Currently, he is a practising lawyer and advisor at Logalty. He also collaborates with the iDerTec Research group (University of Murcia). He holds several certifications in technological practice and is involved in standardisation activities in the fields of electronic signatures and trust services, digital identity and distributed ledger technologies and blockchains, including ETSI TC ESI, CEN-CLC/JTC19, ISO TC 307 and ISO/IEC-JTC1/SC27.

Dr. Evrim Tan is a post-doctoral researcher at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. His research focuses on the use of digital technologies such as blockchain and AI in public governance processes. He has several academic publications about the use of blockchain technology in the public sector. He is one of the Belgian representatives in European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), member of the academic advisory board of International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), and WP leader at EBSI Vector project.

Eelco is the co-founder and CTO of Credenco, a company specializing in Decentralized Identity Services. He is a highly experienced security-minded full-stack developer, technical architect and team lead with over 25 years of experience in IT implementing both web and mobile applications for large organizations. He knows how to explain the most complex technologies to our customers in simple, understandable language.

Eugenio Reggianini is a cross industry professional with a solid background in corporate development, legal and strategy-consulting advisory for investments, product management and software architecture with working experience in Europe and Asia.

Starting as Lead in DLT communities (Hyperledger - R3) with past involvement in projects related to Consortium corporate formation, product business development.

Today, he is advising financial institutions, technology providers and enterprises along their digital transformation journey in adopting Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies by achieving short-, medium- and long-term business objectives.

He represents the European Blockchain Association as Head of Growth and global ambassador, serves as an expert member of the European Blockchain Observatory & Forum as well as part of Swiss Crypto and Digital Euro Association.

Erwin has over 8 years of international experience in the blockchain sector. He is a former economist with both the European Commission and European Central Bank. Currently he is Head of Policy at the European Blockchain Association where he leads advocacy and research initiatives between the web3 community and public institutions. He frequently participates in expert working groups around digital asset policy while advising EU Member State governments and private companies. He has published research on decentralised finance and also cross-border payments including the use of stablecoins/CBDCs for international trade and development.

Nikolaos Triantafyllou holds a PhD in Formal Methods from the National Technical University of Athens, where he also earned his diploma in Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences. With significant expertise in identity management systems, blockchain, machine learning, and digital rights management, he has a special interest in self-sovereign identity (SSI) and has authored more than 15 peer-reviewed papers. Currently, Nikolaos is deeply involved in the development of theThe European Digital Identity Framework Regulation (eIDAS 2.0) by participating actively in the large scale pilot project EU Digital Identity Wallet Consortium (EWC) and implementing early adopter pilot services for the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).

Jose Francisco Ruiz, CEO of IVIS and Werify, is an entrepreneur and senior consultant currently focused on defining application scenarios and ecosystems for SSI and Verifiable Credentials integrated into the business processes of AAPP, health and the private sector. Telematics Engineer, judicial expert and he has a long career in e-Trust and Electronic services including cualified Identity and digital signatures for Digital Administration, eHealth and Legaltech services (QEC Registration Authorities, e-Government, e-Invoice, digital Health Consents, and now SSI).

Christian Klugow, member in the executive board of the European Cooperative IDunion, contributes to shaping a European decentralized digital identity network. Holding a Master's degree in Business Administration from LMU Munich, his diverse professional journey spans roles as an accountant and IT consultant across projects and enterprises of varying scales. With an understanding of both financial intricacies and technological landscapes, Klugow plays a significant role in steering IDunion towards its mission of fostering secure and user-centric digital identities within the cooperative framework.

Miriam is a consultant with OXYGY Consulting, the partner consulting firm to internationally renowned law firm Bird & Bird. Along with Bird & Bird, she is a core team member in the European Blockchain Sandbox, an initiative by the European Commission to establish a pan-European framework for regulatory dialogues to increase legal certainty for innovative Blockchain technology solutions. Over the course of the 3 year initiative, she is supporting the engagement and recruitment of innovative blockchain use cases and regulators and supervisory authorities in the EEA to participate in crucial regulatory dialogues, identifying best practices to support the wider blockchain community. Miriam's consulting work focuses on facilitating collaboration to tackle novel business and technical challenges, through effective change management, innovation, and capability building.

Marjolein Geus is lead partner for the European Blockchain Sandbox project at Bird & Bird. She has extensive experience as a lawyer in the technology and digital sectors with a focus on national EU and global regulation in particular in innovative areas such as blockchain, AI and IoT. On 28th June 2023 she was awarded EMEA Technology Lawyer of the Year at the Women in Business Law Awards 2023 EMEA ceremony.

Ravindra (Rav) Kumar is the Founder and Director of INCRREDA Limited (IT Provider), the company has been operating from the strategic locations Dublin to bring the innovative solutions - Web3, SSI, Decentralised ID built using DLT technology, to the market for Institutions, Government Organisations and Businesses. Ravindra is the SPOC (Single Point of Contact) and Leader for Educational ID Cluster within EC European Blockchain Service Infrastructure (EBSI) Early Adopters Programme Wave 3, where he been supporting the cluster since April 2023 to achieve goals and objectives with help of cluster participants. Also, as member of Board of Directors at INATBA, Rav has supported International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) in terms of defining the Vision and Mission to set the direction within dynamic and innovative Blockchain space during his engagement from April 2022 to April 2024.

Frederic Baud, President of Primus Money, is a serial entrepreneur that has developped business companies in the world of crowdlending, stable coins and more recently verifiable credentials. Accumulating knowldege in business and cryptographic technology, he has driven the efforts of Primus Money to deliver a one-stop-shop solution to let employers deliver in a secure and controlled fashion the numerous attestations that are delivered every day to collaborators.

Philippe Rixhon works on copyrights with creative enterprises, service providers, trade and standardization bodies, and government agencies. As an innovation trailblazer, he assembles and leads prestigious multi-disciplinary teams to initiate, create and operate ground-breaking solutions. Managing Director at Valunode OÜ, he co-authored the study on Copyright and New Technologies published by the European Commission in 2022. His team is currently developing an Open Rights Data Exchange. Philippe is also an Industry Associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies and an expert at ISO working on the standardization of media tokenization. An honorary Doctor of Arts, he hold degrees in engineering, management, theatre directing, and philosophy.

Bara started working in the energy sector in 2015 (Project Manager at Europagrid, Director at Future Energy Foundation) after spending 3+ years in film and TV development and production, project/event management, and public relations. Bara is a strong advocate for innovative technical solutions deployed in locations and communities that do not always benefit from the latest innovation, with particular focus on solutions to ending energy poverty. She was a Board Member of the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), Co-chair of the Energy and Climate Action Working Groups there, and a member of Enterprise Working Group of Blockchain Ireland. Currently she heads Institutional Relations at INATBA, working with the industry and public sector on advancing the sustainable adoption of blockchain. She also leads her own company consulting on innovative projects.

Daniel Du Seuil is the convenor of the European Self Sovereign Identity Framework (ESSIF) within the European Blockchain Partnership. This partnership of 30 EU Member States and supporting countries established a European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) to help deliver cross-border digital public services meeting high security and privacy standards. Daniel participates in the EBSI-VECTOR project as a workpackage leader and is a member of the EDIC Europeum taskforce.

Daniel is also the initiator and project leader of the National Belgian SSI project Blockchain on the Move. He is currently working as a project manager for digital transformation at Howest – Web3 Unit, and was the former blockchain programme manager for the Flemish government. He is a member of the EU Blockchain Observatory and co-initiator of the Belgian blockchain taskforce at Beltug and the new Blockchain4Belgium group.