ID4Africa 2020 registration open, presentation lineup announced

Registration opens today for ID4Africa 2020, the movement’s sixth annual meeting, which takes place between June 2-4 in Marrakesh, Morocco. Biometric Update is the conference’s official journalist for the fifth year in a row.

While the first and third days of the conference will focus on plenaries that will cover reports from African identity authorities, international development agencies, leading technology and solutions providers as well as advocacy groups, the second day will deliver a number of parallel sessions sessions themed as Digital Identity and Service, Open Challenges, The Identity Toolbox, and Data 2020.

This year’s theme is “ID360” and Dr. Joseph Atick, Executive Chairman of ID4Africa, promises this event will deliver three full days of impressive lineups and presentations held by some 120 experts and advocates on the most pertinent identity-related topics on the continent. The discussions will not only cover digital identity, but also ID4D, service delivery, privacy, data protection and mobility, gender equity, legal identity and tech innovation, among others.

According to Dr. Atick, the theme was chosen to turn attention to digital multiplicity of unique identity and to the importance of “foundational identity that attests that the person is unique and exists.” He further explains that it is normal for individuals to have multiple identities in a modern society, so what the industry can do is “empower individuals to participate in the digital economy while preserving their privacy.”

The 2020 edition is expected to be the “most ambitious ever,” Dr. Atick says, as topics such a digital identity, and data privacy and mobility will be a top focus.

“We see identity becoming a pillar in national digital transformation strategies and privacy becoming a major factor in the acceptance of ID projects by data protection authorities and the public across the continent,” Dr. Atick explains. “We’re also focusing on informing national policies on open challenges that continue to plague identity management. These include gender equity, humanitarian action, legal identity and interoperability, but we have not forgotten about technical capacity building.”

The ID4Africa team will be releasing short “1 minute with Dr. Atick” videos in advance of the event to summarize each session so that event participants can easily join the dialogue.

Partners, sponsors and exhibitors include Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, Mastercard, Idemia, Thales, Zetes, HID Global, Innovatrics, Orange, Integrated Biometrics, IN Group, Emperor Technology, EY and more.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  ID4Africa  |  Identification for Development (ID4D)  |  privacy