Mvine, iProov release privacy compliant biometric digital health credential prototype in UK

A digital health credential for COVID-19 status secured with iProov biometrics may be available soon. London-based Mvine has released an innovative fully working prototype for a privacy-preserving digital passport that includes COVID-19 test and antibody status, developed following the funding competition “Business-led innovation in response to global disruption (de minimis)” initiated by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the company announced.

In June, Mvine Limited partnered with iProov to collaborate on a prototype for a biometric antibody test results-sharing system.

“Our vision is to improve public health and citizen privacy by using digital technology in a new and innovative way,” said Frank Joshi, director at Mvine, in a prepared statement. “This project does exactly that and perfectly showcases British technology at its best. Mvine with its partner iProov together delivered a fully working demonstrator which is ready to be used in the national interest.”

“Ensuring consumer trust, security and privacy is essential to the success of projects in this space. iProov enables all three,” added iProov CEO Andrew Bud in the announcement. “iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance secures the link between the citizen and Mvine’s antibody test status solution in this project, which we think can make an important contribution to forming the nation’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.”

On May 2020, the UK government announced it would overall provide £40 million (roughly US$53 million) in funding for the winners. Some 8,500 applications were submitted for 800 companies to ultimately receive about £50,000 (roughly $66,000) each.

Mvine spent two months to develop a detailed working model, sticking to the budget and deadlines. Monitored by Innovate UK, the project’s goal was to come up with a system that recognizes people who have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, without sophisticated infrastructure to ensure wide community access.

A key perk is that people are not personally identified, and their sensitive data is not stored by the passport. During antibody testing, a tokenized individual test result is connected to a person’s biometric facial template for online and offline verification.

“Businesses from all over the UK have answered our call rapidly to meet the challenges we face today and in the future through the power of innovation,” said Dr. Ian Campbell, Executive Chair at Innovate UK, in a prepared statement. “The ideas we have seen can truly make a significant impact on society, improve the lives of individuals, especially those in vulnerable groups and enable businesses to prosper in challenging circumstances.”

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  credentials  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  iProov  |  Mvine  |  privacy