Sustainable digitalisation in education requires solutions that respond to the dynamic needs of diverse user groups – not only learners and educators, but also educational institutions, service providers, and other stakeholders. To meet this complexity, BIRD was implemented by a broad consortium of project partners, contributing expertise from scientific, technical, social, political, and economic perspectives.

The BIRD consortium and their responsibilities:

The University of Potsdam was responsible for the overall coordination of the project and played a central role in the scientific, technical, and didactic design, development, and evaluation of the prototypical networking infrastructure. The Chair for Complex Multimedia Application Architectures contributed extensive expertise in federated IT systems and educational technology. The group was also responsible for the architectural design and the prototypical implementation of cross-platform portal solutions. This focus was complemented by the Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (ZELB) and the Center for Information Technology and Media Management (ZIM), which contributed its know-how in educational technologies, operations, and digital service integration. The university also drew on prior experience from projects such as Campus.UP, where complex IT systems and service-oriented, user-centered educational portals had already been successfully implemented.

By contributing to the development of a prototype for the national digital education space, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) brought its longstanding expertise in the national and international higher education sector to the project. This helped to ensure international compatibility and alignment of the federated infrastructure with broader European initiatives. The development of a National Digital Education Platform aligned closely with DAAD-led initiatives such as the “Digital Campus”, which provided tools and services tailored to international students (e.g., My GUIDE, digital advisory tools, and qualification formats). These offerings served both as process knowledge in international mobility and as concrete use cases for digital collaboration, documentation, and reflection tools.

The University of Magdeburg “Otto von Guericke” (OVGU) played a key role in the conceptual and experimental testing of new approaches to digital learning spaces. Its focus on the "Digital Learning Space Laboratory" created a setting where innovative components, technologies, and usage scenarios could be tested under realistic conditions. The goal was to iteratively develop and evaluate technical, organisational, and pedagogical solutions in conjunction with other project components. OVGU contributed significant expertise in distributed system modelling, digital platform architecture, and the design and assessment of technical testbeds. The lab formed an important bridge between the conceptual design of the infrastructure and its applicability in diverse educational contexts.

The Society for Academic Study Preparation and Test Development (g.a.s.t.) brought its long-standing experience in developing and operating digital systems for assessment, learning, and advising. Within the scope of technology and infrastructure development, the organisation contributed to the design and implementation of interfaces, services, and components enabling secure, scalable, and interoperable connections between existing educational offerings. Particular emphasis was placed on standardised processes for authentication, authorization, and data protection–compliant data exchange. With its technological expertise, g.a.s.t. played a key role in realising a federated digital infrastructure that connects diverse actors and systems across the education sector.

The Bündnis für Bildung e.V. (Alliance for Education) contributed the perspective of a cross-sector network that unites over 125 actors from education, IT, and civil society. In BIRD, BfB supported the project's community-oriented approach through its outreach activities, stakeholder dialogue, and structured collaboration between content providers and solution developers. Drawing on its experience in building digital educational ecosystems, BfB helped ensure that practical needs were addressed early in the development process, enhancing the relevance and transferability of the resulting infrastructure.

The edu-sharing Network e.V. contributed its expertise in metadata generation – e.g., through the integration of machine learning services – during the detailed design and implementation of the technical infrastructure, particularly in the area of content services. This included the integration of experience and content pools from the “WirLernenOnline” platform. The association also facilitated community engagement through its connections to the Open Education and Open Source communities, helping to shape practical and user-driven implementation scenarios.

The Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) was responsible for key components of the project's technology and infrastructure development. Drawing on extensive experience in the design, development, and integration of distributed IT systems in higher education, the university focused on managing complex data flows, federated interfaces, and digital credential systems. Major contributions included the development of a metadata coordination middleware, standardised system connectors, and services for validating and transforming digital academic records.

The Society for Academic Data Processing mbH Göttingen (GWDG) contributed its extensive experience in building scalable open educational resource (OER) infrastructures on national and European levels (e.g., JOINTLY, Up2U) and supported their integration and interoperability. The organisation also provided transferable recommendations and standards that have been adopted in various OER projects to enable efficient data exchange between platforms.

 

MathPlan GmbH provided technical expertise in the development of federated interfaces, API design, and data-driven backend components. The team focussed on metadata management, system integration, and the implementation of interoperable services for the reference architecture. With a multidisciplinary team, MathPlan combined software development, data modeling, and technical consulting.

The FernUniversität in Hagen contributed expertise in educational technology and instructional design research, with a focus on user-centered digital learning environments and individualised learning processes. Within the project, it concentrated on user behavior research and the evaluation of digital networking infrastructures to support adoption and effectiveness.

 

T-Systems International GmbH was responsible for infrastructure and system operations. The company provided a dedicated environment for the development, integration, and testing of key components of the reference architecture, such as the certificate authority, wallet connector, and signature services. With its experience in secure, scalable IT systems, T-Systems supported the practical implementation of foundational infrastructure elements.

 

In addition to the funded institutions, several external service providers contributed to the project through commissioned work. These included: VM.PL sp. z o.o., Prodyna SE, Snoopmedia GmbH, j&s-soft AG, Hochschule der Medien (HdM), SemaLogic UG, bridgefield GmbH, TrainSpot and the FZI Research Center for Information Technology. Their contributions provided valuable complementary expertise and technical support throughout the project.