IOM revealed as organization piloting biometric smart cards from Tactilis and NEXT Biometrics

Details have been announced for three trials of biometric smart cards provided by Tactilis and featuring NEXT Biometrics’ large-area fingerprint sensors. Tactilis has reached an agreement with the UN migration agency, IOM, for the previously reported pilot projects in Asia, which are scheduled to take place during Q1 2019.

During the pilots, the concepts, performance, and viability of the biometric system-on-card technology will be evaluated when deployed to three different migrant and foreign worker environments. In one trial it will be used as a visa card, in another as a border crossing card, and for the other as migrant camp ID.

Many of the 260 million migrants globally, 75 million of whom are in Asia, lack documentation and require trusted identity credentials, according to the announcement.

“We are delighted to work with IOM and honored that our biometric card is recognized as an effective universal tool for global security and enables migrants’ access to essential healthcare and remittance services,” comments Tactilis Founder and CEO Michael Gardiner.

“Tactilis offers an exciting technology that we foresee could greatly assist our efforts to facilitate migrants, in particular foreign workers,” says Donato Colucci, Senior Regional Immigration and Border Management Specialist for IOM’s Regional Office for Asia-Pacific. “IOM continually seeks to leverage technology for the benefit of migrants and the governments that are hosting them. This type of biometric card complements and strengthens our existing and external tools and solutions based around mobile, blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and data management. We look forward to a successful collaboration with Tactilis.”

NEXT recently announced a collaboration to integrate its fingerprint technology with IOTA’s open-source protocol amid a flurry of company activity. Tactilis recently agreed to be acquired, in a deal still pending the standard approvals.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint sensors  |  Next Biometrics  |  pilot project  |  Tactilis  |  United Nations