Governments advance digital identity services in Germany, UAE, Seychelles

A number of federal and governmental institutions have recently announced updates to their biometric and digital identity platforms.

In Germany, IDunion entered the second project phase initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, and in UAE face biometrics have been launched to allow citizens access to government services. The Seychelles administration announced the development of a new digital identity platform, and Gartner identified citizen digital identity as one of the Top 10 Government Technology Trends for 2021.

BMWi selects IDunion for second phase of “Showcase Secure Digital Identities”

IDunion is an organization focusing on the development of an open ecosystem for decentralized identity management based on European regulations.

The company was recently selected by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) for the second phase of the innovation competition “Showcase Secure Digital Identities,” an event with the goal of promoting the development of digital solutions for identity management in Germany.

As part of the competition, IDunion will pilot use cases in a variety of areas, including education, ecommerce, mobility, e-government, e-health, finance, identity and access management (IAM), and industry and IoT.

Specific applications in these fields will translate into the derivation of ID cards into available wallets, campus management and educational credentials for students, and legal identities for companies or product identities.

UAE launches biometric national identity project

The new biometric facial and fingerprint recognition system was firstly announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, two months ago.

Now, the UAE Pass program is officially unrolling in the country, to provide citizens and residents with access to 6,000 services provided by over 130 government, quasi-governmental, federal, and local authorities.

The biometric platform reportedly allows for the creation of a verified account in less than five minutes via a smartphone app.

According to the Khaleej Times, more than 1.38 million digital IDs have already been registered using the new system.

Seychelles unveils development of digital identity platform

The Seychelles government recently announced the development of a digital identity platform designed for integration with eGovernment, eTourism, and eHealth national initiatives.

A pilot of the platform will run for a year, following the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the country’s Department of Information Communications Technology and cybersecurity company WISeKey.

Talking to Seychelles News Agency, the country’s Principal Secretary of the Department of Information Communication Technology Benjamin Choppy said the development of the platforms aimed to foster the growth of the digital economy and the modernization of traditional payment systems.

Choppy also added the new platform will allow the use of electronic IDs on smartphones for easier mobile integration.

Gartner releases top government technology trends

Research and advisory firm Gartner has released a list of the top government technology trends for 2021.

Among the ten items is citizen digital identity, defined by the company as “the ability to prove an individual’s identity via any government digital channel that is available to citizens.”

According to Gartner, digital ID platforms are rapidly evolving, thus pushing governments to extend the number of services they offer through them.

The research firm claimed, “a true global, portable, decentralized identity standard will emerge in the market by 2024, to address business, personal, social and societal, and identity-invisible use cases.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  decentralized ID  |  digital government  |  digital identity  |  Gartner  |  Germany  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  identity verification  |  IDunion  |  national ID  |  online authentication  |  Seychelles  |  UAE  |  UAE Pass