Thailand integrates Innovatrics liveness, ABIS to secure national ID onboarding

In a bid to advance Thailand’s digital infrastructure, the Digital Onboarding Toolkit (DOT) powered by Innovatrics’ ABIS (automated biometric identification system) has been deployed as an extension of the existing National ID (NID) ecosystem to enable unsupervised identity verification from a smartphone. The move is intended to make the country’s digital IDs safer and more secure to use.

The DOT components have been integrated into the government’s ThaID mobile app, and are used for remote onboarding with biometric identity checks being performed in the government data center, a recent case study reveals. The adoption of remote identity verification introduced the need for biometric liveness detection and optical character recognition (OCR) to read the Thai NID card.

In 2019, Thailand’s Ministry of Interior implemented Innovatrics ABIS for the issuance of national IDs.

Innovatrics released the ninth version of its ABIS in February.

ThaID in for digital service delivery

Last year, Thailand began allowing air travel passengers to use their ThaID digital ID for verification when boarding domestic flights. This initiative has proven to be a success, paving the way for broader applications of digital identification.

“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who presided over the launch of the ‘ThaID’ mobile application, said it was designed to make it more convenient for people to access state-run services,” says Traisuree Taisaranakul, Thai deputy government spokeswoman.

“Gen Prayut expressed hopes that more state agencies and private agencies would make use of the digital ID system to streamline their services and urged media outlets to promote wider use.”

This ties in with the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry preparing its systems to support the government’s digital wallet handout. This initiative is expected to benefit 50 million Thais, ensuring a smooth implementation of the digital wallet program, which is a central part of the government’s efforts to boost the digital economy.

To fund its flagship digital wallet stimulus program, the Thai cabinet, led by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, approved an additional 122 billion baht (roughly US$3.3 billion) to the 3.48 trillion baht (around $94.6 billion) fiscal budget, according to Nikkei Asia.

To bolster the efficiency and robustness of Thailand’s digital-economy development, U.S.-based technology giant Microsoft recently cosigned on a commitment to build new cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the country, the Nation reports. The investment by Microsoft is expected to enhance the technological capabilities of Thailand, supporting both public and private sectors in their digital transformation journeys.

The integration of biometric identity verification into digital public services is anticipated to significantly improve the user experience, making it easier for citizens to interact with government agencies.

Article Topics

ABIS  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  Innovatrics  |  OCR  |  selfie biometrics  |  ThaiID  |  Thailand