1. What is the W-SPES Project? Carlo Pentimalli (Prato, Italy)

2. What is the EU funding? The EU recognises the importance of using electronic signatures. Their Electronic Signatures Directive prescribes how they should be issued. They want interoperability across Europe. The EU want to overcome the “Chicken and Egg” cycle of no certificates because there are no applications which need them and vice versa.

3. Digital Signatures Funded under the eTen programme, W-SPES sets out to promote the adoption and full exploitation of digital signatures by public administrations. As such, it supports the wide scale deployment of electronic signature solutions in line with the European directive. It explored ways of achieving interoperability between the digital signatures solutions used in different countries.

4. Applications For example, it would make it possible for an SME in Germany to participate electronically for a call to tender issued by a public administration in Italy. The objective is to replace paper-based signatures. Partners across the EU have produced some 30 applications demonstrating this valuable technology.