Thoughtworks has been selected by the New South Wales (NSW) Government to develop and deploy the digital birth certificate which will provide citizens with highly-secure, anytime, anywhere access. Thoughtworks' appointment follows the NSW Government's announcement last year that it would be “spearheading a cross-jurisdictional project to develop a national Digital Birth Certificate” and is a key priority of the NSW Premier's Government Made Easy (GME) initiative. A digital birth certificate will help overcome many issues around the use of a physical identity document including durability, safekeeping and accessibility.

The digital birth certificate is expected to be widely accepted by government, businesses, schools, and sporting organizations, making it faster and easier for citizens to apply for products and services. Thoughtworks will deliver a fully integrated digital birth certificate that operates on all widely-used platforms (including Apple iOS, Android and as a multi-browser web app). It will be beta tested, assured for quality and web content accessibility (WCAG), pass all applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and meet specifications relating to data privacy and cyber security.

The project is expected to be launched late 2022. Once released, the digital birth certificate will be optional and will complement the paper birth certificate, not replace it. Before appointing Thoughtworks as its delivery partner, the NSW Government conducted a detailed discovery and research process, consulting citizens across Australia, to establish guiding principles for the product design.