The Idiap Research Institute details biometric research projects

Over the past few years, the Idiap Research Institute has actively participated in several national and international research projects in the area of biometric cybersecurity and received several tens of millions of Swiss francs in funding.

The organization has built a strong reputation, largely based on its biometrics research group and its Swiss Center for Biometrics Research and Testing, led by Dr Sébastien Marcel.

Recently, Google decided to name Idiap as the only European partner within the framework of an exclusive research project.

Additionally, the American Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) has leveraged Idiap research in combatting spoofing attacks.

In Switzerland, the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) collaborated with Idiap and its partners (CSEM, HES-SO Valais, BioWatch, KeyLemon and IT Services), funding three new research projects on vein and face biometrics.

In Norway, the Research Council has been funding a four-year project on mobile biometrics — including face, voice, iris and fingerprints — for banking applications.

In the United States, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has allowed Idiap to participate in a project of the Media Forensics program that is designed to identify manipulations of audio and video sources.

All of these projects require capturing new biometric data for research and evaluation purposes, and as a result, Idiap has collaborated with its partners to launch a program to gather multimodal biometrics data (face, voice, vein, iris and fingerprints) from volunteers over a two-year period.

All collected data will remain anonymous, secured and available for research and evaluation, which is largely made possible by the BEAT platform, co-developed by the Swiss Center for Biometrics Research and Testing and backed by the Canton of Valais and the City of Martigny.

The unique platform is generating interest for international actors active in the field of biometrics cybersecurity and computational science.

Article Topics

BEAT platform  |  biometrics research  |  cybersecurity  |  Idiap  |  Swiss Center for Biometrics Research and Testing