Cologne-based start-up co-develops the digital vaccination certificate

The US company IBM and the start-up Ubirch are working together on the digital vaccination certificate for Germany. The order volume is in the millions.

Germany is one step closer to the digital vaccination passport: the Cologne-based start-up Ubirch and the US corporation IBM have won the tender to develop a digital vaccination passport within the EU, beating out competitors such as Oracle and Deutsche Telekom.

Ubirch specializes in blockchain solutions that will be used to encrypt vaccination status information in a tamper-proof way. The source code for the digital vaccination certificate will be publicly available, according to the startup. The Cologne-based company already has experience working with municipalities, managing test results at the Frankfurt Airport test center and sitting on a consortium to digitize Corona test results.

CEO Stephan Noller of Ubirch is delighted: "The fact that the large corporation IBM, together with the Cologne-based startup Ubirch, has been awarded the contract by the German Federal Ministry of Health is truly exemplary and makes us very happy," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

In addition to IBM and Ubirch, Berlin-based Govidigtal and IT service provider Bechtle are also involved in the development. Govidigital will develop the infrastructure for Ubirch's blockchain solutions. The two companies have jointly introduced the digital vaccination certificate as a pilot project in two municipalities. There, the vaccination status can be viewed via a QR code on a card. In the future, this will work via an app. The contract is worth 2.7 million euros. It should take twelve weeks until the digital vaccination passport is ready for use.