The OpenID Foundation is excited to announce a new collaboration agreement with the Cloud Signature Consortium (CSC), marking a significant step forward in the standardization of digital credentials and cloud based signatures. 

The OpenID Foundation leads the global community in creating identity standards that are secure, interoperable and privacy-preserving, while the Cloud Signature Consortium builds standards for cloud based digital signatures that support web and mobile applications while complying with demanding electronic signature regulations worldwide.

This partnership brings together two leading organizations to create unified, interoperable standards that will support critical initiatives, like the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) project.

Strengthening the foundation for digital identity

As digital identity solutions become increasingly central to both public and private sector operations, the need for cohesive, interoperable standards has become essential for successful implementation.

This collaboration between the OpenID Foundation’s Digital Credentials Protocols (DCP) Working Group and the CSC Technical Committee ensures that cloud based digital signatures and credential presentation protocols will work seamlessly together.

The partnership is particularly timely as European governments advance the EUDI Wallet initiative, which requires robust, standardized approaches to digital identity verification and electronic signatures. By aligning technical specifications, a stronger foundation is being created for these next generation identity solutions.

Avoiding fragmentation, maximizing impact

Rather than developing competing standards in parallel, both organizations recognized the value of coordinated development. This collaboration will prevent technical duplication while ensuring comprehensive coverage of digital identity use cases, from credential issuance and verification to secure electronic signatures in cloud environments.

"The synergy between OpenID Foundation's credential presentation protocols and CSC's cloud signature standards creates powerful possibilities for the digital identity ecosystem," said Luigi Rizzo, Chair of the CSC Technical Committee. "This partnership ensures that organizations implementing EUDI Wallet and similar initiatives will have access to mature, interoperable standards that work together seamlessly."

What this means for the industry

Both specifications developed through this collaboration will be made freely available for reference in government legislation, regulations, and private sector policies. This open approach supports the shared vision of establishing truly global digital infrastructure that serves users, businesses, and governments alike.

The partnership represents a new model for standards development in the identity space, one that prioritizes interoperability and user experience over organizational boundaries. As the two organisations work together on these critical specifications, they are building the technical foundation for a more connected, secure digital future.

For identity professionals working on digital wallet implementations, credential management systems, or electronic signature solutions, this collaboration signals a maturing ecosystem where standards work together rather than compete. The result will be more robust, interoperable solutions that can scale globally while meeting the most demanding regulatory requirements.

About the CSC

The Cloud Signature Consortium is a global group of industry, government, and academic organizations committed to driving standardization of highly secure and compliant digital signatures in the cloud. Inspired by the rigorous requirements of the European Union’s Regulation on Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS), our common technical specification helps ease solution interoperability, streamlines compliance with e-signature regulations, and opens the market for uniform adoption of cloud-based digital signatures around  the world.

About the OpenID Foundation

The OpenID Foundation (OIDF) is a global open standards body committed to helping people assert their identity wherever they choose. Founded in 2007, we are a community of technical experts leading the creation of open identity standards that are secure, interoperable, and privacy preserving. The Foundation’s OpenID Connect standard is now used by billions of people across millions of applications. In the last five years, the Financial Grade API has become the standard of choice for Open Banking and Open Data implementations, allowing people to access and share data across entities. Today, the OpenID Foundation’s standards are the connective tissue to enable people to assert their identity and access their data at scale, the scale of the internet, enabling “networks of networks” to interoperate globally. Individuals, companies, governments and non-profits are encouraged to join or participate. Find out more at openid.net.