As digital identity becomes an essential component of online and real life interactions for citizens and businesses, robust testing environments are necessary to ensure security, interoperability, and user experience. The Playground serves as a sandbox environment where digital identity solutions can be tested, refined, and validated before real-world deployment. It plays a key role in building a trusted and efficient European digital identity ecosystem.
What is the Playground?
The Playground is a collaborative environment used to support testing and integration for partners within the POTENTIAL project. It allows them to interact with systems and applications, run tests, and validate processes. With automatic integrations (e.g., Slack and Gitlab), it aims to help in streamlining communication and tracking developments.
The purpose of the Playground is to ensure seamless interoperability, providing necessary resources such as testing environments and reporting tools to standardize processes across partners.
How does the Playground work?
In order to test interoperability between national digital identity solutions, the Playground provides a structured environment for:
- Simulating real-world scenarios: developers and institutions replicate various digital identity use cases to evaluate practical performance.
- Assessing compliance: implementations are tested against European regulations such as eIDAS, ISO/IEC 29115, and other industry standards to ensure alignment.
- Conducting iterative testing cycles: multiple phases, from initial connectivity checks to peer-to-peer testing, enable continuous refinement and validation.
Thus, the Playground is a key component of interoperability testing events. In February 2025, in the Netherlands, it enabled wallet providers and relying parties to assess the compatibility of mobile driving licences across multiple European countries, supporting each nation’s progress on its digital wallet. See our article : February 2025: acceleration for the European digital driving licence.
| đź’ˇGood to know A clear distinction is made between interoperability testing and use case testing. While interoperability testing focuses on the connectivity between participants and the Playground, use case testing addresses the content of the data and credentials being shared, integrating them into business processes. The Playground serves as a preparatory step, ensuring that national implementations can seamlessly interact with one another, paving the way for cross-border interoperability. |
The Playground is an essential component of Europe’s digital identity construction. By enabling rigorous testing and fostering collaboration among stakeholders, it lays the foundation for a secure, user-centric, and interoperable digital identity ecosystem. As the European Digital Identity Wallet moves toward implementation, the Playground remains a vital tool for ensuring its success and widespread adoption.