James Little, Acting Director, Digital Trust Framework, Government Digital Delivery Agency

In pharmaceutical development there’s a well-known principle called the “first-pill problem”. Bringing a new medicine to market — discovery, preclinical research, clinical trials, regulatory approval, manufacturing, and the failures along the way — takes years and costs millions, sometimes billions.

The second pill often costs cents.

In the coming months, New Zealand will crack its own version: the first-credential problem. By year’s end, issuers including the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Hospitality New Zealand with NEC, Westpac and Lumin intend to be offering their customers modern, safe, privacy-preserving digital identity services. An NZTA-issued digital driver licence will follow, taking credentials mainstream.

The cost of that first credential? Nearly a decade of work in developing policy, conceptualising a trust framework, passing legislation through Parliament, establishing a regulator, making secondary legislation, collaborating on a reference architecture, amending related laws, and building guidance, communications and the beginnings of a market. And that’s just the Trust Framework Group. Add the investment, time and expertise of the private sector, the wider public sector and the Māori sector, and the investment to get to that first credential is substantial.

So let’s use this year’s Hui Taumata to celebrate conquering the first-credential problem, then look to the next five years and how we start realising the benefits from everything we’ve collectively invested.

Because for the first time in a decade, the challenge isn’t the first credential. It’s the millionth.

How do we scale? How do we make sure all Kiwis benefit?

The answer doesn’t lie with the law, the issuer, the credential, the wallet or the user. It lies with where a credential can be used. The next problem is relying party acceptance.

The millionth-credential problem will only be solved when every government agency, bank, fintech, supermarket, bottle store, rental car company and hotel accepts an accredited credential as readily as they accept the physical version.

We’ve made a strong start. The law is fit for purpose, and tools like NZ Verify and the Digital Trust Service are available free of charge.

Like the first-credential problem, this one will take all of us. We need to be engaging every potential relying party so they see the benefits for themselves and their customers. Our next target must be putting the ability to verify a credential in the hands of every bartender, lobby clerk, bank teller, and online portal.

Because to ensure we have a million credentials, we need a million places to use them.