Building Trusted Data Exchange at UN Scale: Digital Identity, Interoperability and Real-World Adoption
Governments, international organizations, and enterprises are investing heavily in digital identity, yet many continue to struggle with fragmented systems, duplicate records, and costly verification processes. The challenge is rarely a lack of data. The challenge is establishing trust between systems without creating new silos.
The UN Digital ID Programme was created to address this problem across a uniquely complex environment: the United Nations system. Today, multiple UN organizations are implementing a shared digital identity ecosystem based on digital wallets, verifiable credentials, and open standards that enable individuals to securely manage and share trusted information across organizational boundaries.
This session presents the journey from idea to production, including the architectural principles, governance model, and practical lessons learned while deploying a digital identity platform across independent institutions with different business processes, technology landscapes, and priorities.
Rather than focusing on technology for its own sake, the presentation will explore how interoperability, open standards, and trust frameworks can reduce administrative friction, improve workforce mobility, streamline onboarding and entitlements, and enable new models of cross-organizational collaboration.
Attendees will learn:
• How verifiable credentials can support digital sovereignty and user control of data.
• What it takes to implement digital identity in a multi-stakeholder environment.
• Lessons learned from governance, adoption, integration, and change management at scale.
• Practical considerations for organizations exploring trusted data exchange ecosystems.
This talk is intended for public sector leaders, architects, digital transformation practitioners, OSPOs, and anyone interested in turning digital identity concepts into operational reality.
Mr. Massimiliano Merelli
Programme Director, UN Systems Digital ID Programme
United Nations International Computing Centre
Max Merelli is Programme Director for the UN Digital ID at the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), where he leads the development and deployment of secure, interoperable digital identity solutions across the UN system. With a background in enterprise systems and digital transformation, Max previously served as Team Lead and Head of SAP/ERP Services at the World Food Programme (WFP). He conceived the UN Digital ID concept that won the Reimagine the UN Together Challenge and has since driven its design, governance, and multi-agency piloting.
Max’s work focuses on pragmatic, privacy-preserving architectures that combine mobile-first user experiences with strong authentication, biometrics where appropriate, and distributed verification methods to reduce onboarding friction, streamline personnel services (including pensions and entitlements), and enable trusted cross-agency workflows. He engages diverse stakeholders -UN agencies, technology partners, donors, and field teams - to align technical standards, operational requirements, and policy safeguards so digital identity delivers measurable operational efficiency and better service for UN personnel.
Known for blending strategic vision with hands-on delivery, Max advocates incremental pilots, rigorous risk management, and inclusive design to ensure digital identity initiatives are scalable, secure, and ethically governed.