Protectoria Global Inc. (PGI), has signed a 15-year contract to deliver an SSI-based digital infrastructure service with Quezon City Office of Senior Citizens Affairs. 

Protectoria Venture’s subsidiary Protectoria Global Incorporated (PGI) and Quezon City, represented by the Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs (OSCA), signed today on May 25th, 2021, a 15-year contract to develop, build and operate a secure and user-friendly digital decentralised identity infrastructure service with Self Sovereign Identity technology (SSI). The purpose of the agreement is to manage identities and handle discounts, as required by the law act No. 9994 granting benefits and privileges to Senior Citizens. 

The service will allow OSCA to issue and manage digital identities based on Self Sovereign Identity technology (SSI), providing users the control over their own data. Operations are planned to start as soon as possible, but no later than in 2023, and will gradually involve all 300 000 Senior Citizens of Quezon City, a City with 3,6m inhabitants, as well as potentially 74 000 merchants.

One of the first real life SSI infrastructure

The contract will be based on Protectoria Venture’s unique SSI based cloud services for delivery of identity, authentication and signing services called “My Identity System”. It is a truly decentralized architecture based on SSI principles where users are in control of the data through their own application (digital wallet), respecting local regulation on digital privacy.The  “My Identity System implements state-of-the-art technology to preserve the user’s privacy, as well as to protect the processed data and secure transactions. The services will include Protectoria Venture’s patent pending technology to secure digital transactions with a single mobile device user experience. 

This will be the one of the first implementations of Self-Sovereign-Identity-based digital ID services in the ASEAN region. It will be delivered as an end-to-end digital infrastructure with a user-friendly cloud-based  ‘custodian’ service, with great benefits for all stakeholders, such as interoperability, security and reliability.

Infrastructure service to create a “wheel of trust” 

The Digital Identity Infrastructure Service includes our concept of the “ Wheel of Trust” where collaborative efforts executed on a blockchain prevent a single entity from claiming to be the sole authority to be trusted. Instead there is trust in data being reliable, resulting from mathematical computation over all collaborative efforts recorded on the blockchain and therefore forever immutable and persistent. 

The parties are confident that this digital infrastructure service will provide increased efficiency in handling discounts provided to Senior Citizens with less fraud and lower costs, with passwordless user experience.

Potential to expand scope of agreement

The agreement provides several options to expand the scope of the contract to include any application to be managed by ID-holder’s own wallets supported by the cloud service in the future. This paves the way for high-level secure communication necessary for mission critical health services to all Citizens. A general Health ID for citizens will typically include digital vaccine certificates, digitally signed prescriptions and online health consultations.

The parties are preparing for the launch of these services expected during 2023.  

Motivation of the parties

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how vulnerable all parts of society are if dependent solely on physical processes and has, thus, highlighted the importance of deploying digital alternatives to communicate, to continue doing business, and to deliver essential public services more efficiently. 

Quezon City, through the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs (“OSCA”), provides a range of services and financial support to senior citizens of Quezon City, one of the most vulnerable groups in the COVID-19 situation. OSCA aims to allow these services to be delivered through a secure and user-friendly digital platform based on virtual, contact-free transactions in which the user has control of their data. The use of the platform is intended to minimize the need for physical contact. 

Protectoria’s SSI-based infrastructure service will not only create significant efficiencies in handling the authorities’ and the merchants’ interactions with senior citizens, but also reduce the contagion risk related to physical interactions. 

This secure and user-friendly digital ID service will also facilitate financial inclusion and reduce inequality. Furthemore, the fact that citizens will remain in control of their own data will create mutual trust, which again will expand the potential use of acceptable digital services. 

PGI will handle all interactions and be the contractual partner for Quezon City, and operate the digital infrastructure based on a firm contract with commercial conditions set. The contract will generate steady revenues and cash flow to the company, once enrollment of merchants and senior citizens is accomplished. The company will receive subscription, issuing and transaction-based revenues, which will secure a steady margin based on commercial terms specified in existing contracts. Investment in the complete infrastructure will be accomplished by Protectoria Venture. 

About Protectoria Global Inc. 

Protectoria Global Incorporated, (PGI) is a Philippine company with offices in Manila, 100% owned by Protectoria Venture AS (PV), a Norwegian Identity Infrastructure Service company with offices in Oslo and Berlin. 

Digital identity is the backbone of digital transactions. Significant market growth is expected for decentralized digital infrastructure services based on Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and blockchain technologies. The firm aims to benefit from a first mover advantage to to take a leading position in the fast growing market for decentralized digital identity infrastructure. 

PGI aims at a market leading position for these services in the Philippines. PGI has secured the exclusivity to resell PV’s digital Identity Infrastructure Services for the Philippines, which is the underlying infrastructure of the services to be integrated. PGI has a vision to “empower people to become sovereign citizens”. 

About Protectoria Venture AS 

is a Norwegian company with offices in Oslo, Berlin and Manila which develops and operates a secure cloud infrastructure managing digital identities as a service, called Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) and blockchain technology and integrates proprietary technology for securing transactions. 

More information: 

Trond Lemberg; Chairman; trond.lemberg@protectoria.com  
Mobile phone: + 47 414 87 310

Pierre Martin Reyes, CEO; pierre.m.reyes@pgi.international
Mobile phone: + 63 0 976 064 2436

Erik Storelv, Board Member; erik.storelv@protectoria.com
Mobile phone: +47 46 52 22 00