Invitation VC-EDU Interoperability Plug Fest

Dear Colleagues,



This April, JFFLabs released a market scan <http://jff.org/digitalwallets>
focused on verifiable credentials digital wallets - tools that we believe
will enable mobility for learners and workers and give them agency over
their education and career paths.  Thank you for the time and expertise you
have provided us during our research for this project.



JFF is excited to continue support of the development of the verifiable
credentials community, which we believe will be foundational to a
skills-based talent marketplace.  In collaboration with the W3C VC-EDU Task
Force, JFF will be hosting a series of community plugfests to promote the
interoperability of credentials across various learning and employment
ecosystems.  With these plugfests, we hope to encourage the development of
a large and active marketplace of LER (learning and employment record)
friendly technology, tools, and infrastructure and for the community to
demonstrate true multi-vendor, multi-platform interoperability.



In partnership with the National Governors Association, outputs of these
plugfests will contribute critical information to the Skills-Driven States
<https://www.nga.org/projects/skills-driven-state-community-of-practice>Community
of Practice, informing state leaders and policymakers on best practices in
technology development and acquisition as they fund the implementation of
LER friendly ecosystems and skills-based practices at scale, nationally.



Each of these plugfests will focus on a few technical elements that will
together form a complete workflow for requesting, issuing, storing,
verifying, and presenting verifiable credentials using a wallet, as
described in:

   - Verifiable Credentials Data Model -
   https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/
   - Universal Wallet Specification -
   https://w3c-ccg.github.io/universal-wallet-interop-spec/#protocol
   - Learner Credential Wallet Specification -
   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vPqb4bJ6pfuAPYF_fMW_Lb-7GZugasWKfrSCotpuv6o/edit?usp=sharing
   - Decentralized Identifiers Recommendation -
   https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/



We will be hosting an open, public discussion on the Interoperability Test
Plan for the first plugfest during the W3C VC-EDU Task Force Meeting
on *Monday,
May 9, 2022*.  The goal of this discussion is to answer questions about the
process for implementing the interoperability testing (such as timing,
definitions, IP) and to find consensus on the minimal technical
specifications that will achieve our functional requirements.  Details on
joining the meeting may be found: https://github.com/w3c-ccg/vc-ed.



Wallet developers interested in participating in these community plugfests
may receive a stipend of $10,000* to support any technical development and
collaboration efforts necessary to participate in the first demonstration
event.  Please send an email to Sharon Leu, sleu@jff.org no later than *Friday,
May 13, 2022* with the following information:

   - Name of the organization developing the wallet
   - Name of primary and technical contact and email (for correspondence)
   - Public link to the wallet, including any relevant documentation
   - Credential assertion format (in production)
   - DID methods supported (if applicable)
   - Digital signature cryptographic suite used (or planned, if applicable)
   - Protocol for obtaining and storing VCs (if applicable)



We plan to host the first community interoperability demonstration
event on *Monday,
June 6, 2022*, from 1 PM to 5 PM CT, as a pre-conference event preceding
the JFF Horizons conference.  You can register for this event separately at
https://cvent.me/A2ov3L.



Please feel free to reach out with any specific questions ahead of our
public discussion next week.  We look forward to your participation.



Sincerely,



Sharon Leu



* Please note that the stipend does not apply to those recipients of
funding from Walmart.org where this activity has already been supported.
Stipend is per wallet project, not individual participant.





*___________________________*

Sharon Leu

Executive in Residence | JFFLabs

[image: signature_965034333]
<https://www.jff.org/what-we-do/impact-stories/jfflabs/>