Frontex seeks fingerprint biometrics innovators

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, is hosting an online networking session on January 23, 2025.

An announcement poses questions to potential attendees: “Would you like to showcase your novel solutions and technologies which could be used to train national and Frontex staff to improve their biometric comparison skills? Can your innovative solution support the community to assess biometric data in a highly advanced manner?”

If the answer is yes, sign-ups are open for Industry Days, where technology providers can present biometric tools to tackle challenges faced by Frontex in border control operations.

Specifically, the agency is looking for “digital training solutions for fingerprint comparison” in the form of “comparison exercises based on real and/or realistic images of fingerprints,” at varying levels of difficulty and image quality.

Frontex also seeks “functionalities for tailoring fingerprints comparison exercises according to the trainees’ needs to improve their skills,” as well as for progress tracking.

Interested parties can make an online request to showcase their work at General Industry Days until December 19, 2024. Among applicants, up to sixteen technologies will be selected for showcase, based on effectiveness, efficiency, innovation and relevance for the European Border and Coast Guard community.

Per the release, “technological solutions must respect the legal limitations resulting from the data protection rules and human rights provisions.”

Frontex recently caught flak for flaws in its 2022 report on biometric technologies, which critics say failed to consider the technologies’ impact on fundamental rights and data protection.

Article Topics

biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  border security  |  EU  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Frontex