Digital ID sustainability, power to improve lives depends on healthy ecosystems

Resilience and realism were central to the discussions among digital identity and DPI experts from around the world at ID4Africa 2026 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The event was the largest in ID4Africa’s 12-year history, despite global and regional disruptions from war to Ebola.

One of the main themes of the event is a conceptual transition; from thinking about service delivery with digital identity from digital public infrastructure (DPI) to digital public ecosystems. DPEs include the applications the provide utility, motivating use for transactions that generate revenue which pays for the maintenance of the infrastructure.

Many countries across Africa are advancing from proof of concept and public launches to production. That means increased focus on the sustainability of registration efforts, adoption by relying parties for user onboarding and authentication and government technical capacity. PPPs and a new continental PKI initiative could help.

The question is particularly acute for projects with open-source platforms as they transition from pilots to production.

Maintaining public trust as digital identity use becomes a part of daily life means clear and robust policies, along with regulatory enforcement. The power that DPI grants comes with dangerous risks if the governance mechanisms in place are not strong enough to prevent it from being repurposed or captured by special interests.

Dialogue at ID4Africa 2026 reflected a maturing continental identity ecosystem, and the number of major projects for which once-thorny challenges like mass biometric enrollment have been largely solved.

Exhibitors are adjusting their portfolios and strategies in recognition of this shift.

Key presentations by Margins ID Group CEO Moses Baiden Jr., Sierra Leone ICT Minister Salima Monorma Bah and World Bank Advisor and former NADRA head Tariq Malik explored pressing issues for ID authorities around the world.

Biometric Update’s on-location coverage is supplemented with interviews with ID4Africa EC Dr. Joseph Atick, ID30 CEO Jaume Dubois, and representatives of Thales, HID, Cognitec, Regula and Iris ID, sharing perspectives on one of the most dynamic segments of the global biometrics and digital identity market.

Biometric Update reports from ID4Africa 2026

Reporting by Ayang Macdonald and Chris Burt

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Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  ID4Africa  |  ID4Africa 2026