eema, the European e-identity and IT security association, reports that in a survey of its members, some 91 per cent of respondents stated they were concerned with identity-related issues including national ID card schemes.
In response eema has compiled a programme of activity for 2008 that will bring together governments, academic institutions and technology speakers from across Europe to debate identity challenges.
The majority (88 per cent) of the 100 member organisations that participated in the survey stated that national ID cards were of importance to their business, with a total of 91 per cent of respondents interested in at least one major aspect of identity, including Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and identity in social networking.
"Many eema member organisations have decided that 2008 is the year to take action and get involved in government-supported identity initiatives, which will tackle the most pressing issues head on, such as interoperability between countries, with an objective to find best practice solutions," says Executive Director of eema, Roger Dean.
The eema European e-ID Card Conference 2008 (Current perspective and initiatives from around Europe in Government and business) runs in Leuven, Belgium, on April 3 and 4. Focusing on cross-border and cross-organisational interoperability, the conference will present real life e-ID case studies and experiences of high profile businesses as well as European governments at varying stages of implementation. Technical issues and problems facing governments and businesses will be addressed in several panel and round table discussions, led by market experts.
The eema annual conference on June 10 and 11, at The Hague, will focus on e-ID Management across Europe. The conference will feature initiatives from around Europe involving eema member organisations, in particular the government-supported cross-border interoperability STORK project. The association’s conference and exhibition, ISSE, this year is in Madrid on October 7 to 9. With support from the Spanish government, eema again partners with TeleTrusT and ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) to bring ISSE to Spain’s administrative, political and communications hub. ISSE 2008 will build on previous conferences and further explore those issues affecting European businesses, governments and citizens alike, including identity management, network security, trusted computing, biometrics, interoperability, e-government and European policy.
