Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces some technological and policy developments that are at the heart of the mGov4EU project. In the mGov4EU project, various pilots implement and validate enhanced infrastructure services for electronic voting, smart mobility and mobile signing, using mobile devices most of us nowadays naturally expect as a default way of accessing services. The pilots aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of providing cross-border information to enhance cross-border mobility and cross-border collaboration in the European Union. The pilots also demonstrated how enhanced electronic identities and trust services (eIDAS) and Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR) layers can accommodate once-only, digital-by-default and mobile-first principles. For this to result in user-centric, user-friendly mobile public services, stakehold-ers’ roles (including but not limited to end users’ experiences and requirements) have to be identified, architecture core building blocks have to be assembled, implementations have to align with EU eIDAS and SDG regulations and, with the eSignature interoperability system and the Digital Wallet System, ethics, security and privacy requirements have to be taken into account and evaluated. The long-term viability has to be ensured. This first chapter briefly introduces all these relevant angles and describes how the various chapters will focus on how specific challenges were tackled and what lessons learnt could be drawn.