German state minister visits JENETRIC to discuss biometrics and eGovernment initiatives

Jul 29, 2018, 11:43 am EDT | Stephen Mayhew

Categories Biometrics News | Fingerprint Recognition

Thuringian Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Tiefensee recently visited the JENETRIC GMBH office to discuss digitizing proof of identity with biometric technologies. Thuringia is a state in east-central Germany.

The parties spoke about national and international eGovernment initiatives to automate processes for applying for passports, driver licenses, grant applications and submitting tax returns using biometrics technology for security.

“Germany is one of the pioneers in the integration of fingerprints in passports and ID cards. Unfortunately, due to the lack of infrastructure, the possibilities resulting from this have only been used to some extent to date. We are pleased with the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to advance digitization and IT security in Thuringia,” commented Roberto Wolfer, one of the CEOs of JENETRIC.

In addition to new possibilities for the use of biometrics, the simplification of grant applications was discussed during the Minister’s visit. According to a company statement, the Thuringian state government could be a pioneer in this field by completely digitizing the processes for applying for grants to speed up the process. A fast processing time for grants is essential to shorten product development time in the biometrics industry to keep up with international competition.

During his visit the Minister was able to take his fingerprints in a border control simulation. “JENETRIC’s fingerprint scanners are a real high-tech product and at the same time an important prerequisite for the digitization of public administrations in Thuringia,” said Tiefensee.

“The intuitive and simple operation of fingerprint scanners is a prerequisite for the digitization of many business processes,” added Wolfer. “… our products enable users to take high-quality fingerprints in self-service kiosk settings without the need of guidance by officials.”