Austria showcases operational contactless fingerprint system at UN counterterrorism event

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria have presented BioCapture at the UN Counter-Terrorism Week 2026 in New York.

The smartphone-based biometric fingerprint identification system is already used by the Austrian police. It allows the officers to capture fingerprints with standard smartphones and match them against the national automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS).

“Mobile contactless fingerprint capture is another important step towards modern and efficient police work. It enables our officers to establish identities quickly and reliably directly at the scene and combines operational effectiveness with high standards of data protection and the rule of law,” says Andreas Holzer, director of the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria.

BioCapture is used in day-to-day police work to perform biometric identity checks at the scene of an incident. Rather than relying only on identity documents, verbal statements, or station-based fingerprinting, police can use a smartphone to capture fingerprints in the field and submit an encrypted AFIS query.

Austria is positioning the biometric system around safeguards. The press release says BioCapture was developed under a “Responsible by Design” approach, with data protection, information security, usability and compliance.

According to AIT, four fingers from both hands can be captured in less than 30 seconds. The subsequent AFIS query is carried out automatically, in encrypted form and in compliance with national and European data protection regulations.

“Responsible technology does not emerge only when it is put into use, but right from the development stage. From the very beginning, our aim has been to consider ethical values, and thus safety, data protection, and practical applicability, as an integrated whole,” says Helmut Leopold, head of Center for Digital Safety and Security at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology.

The technology is developed in partnership by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria, software company T3K, and the University of Salzburg. The project was co-funded through Austria’s KIRAS security research program.

The Federal Criminal Police Office said BioCapture had been in use with selected police units since August 2025. They reported 643 identity checks, 170 AFIS confirmations with identification of several wanted persons and the arrest of a suspected drug dealer during the trial period.

The release says the system has the potential to be expanded to European AFIS systems to enable a wider cross-border identity-check workflow.

European police cooperation is already moving toward broader automated data exchange. The EU’s Prüm II framework allows law enforcement authorities to collaborate with other member states’ national databases for categories such as fingerprints, DNA, vehicle registration data, facial images, and police records.

Article Topics

AFIS  |  Austria  |  BioCapture  |  contactless biometrics  |  counter-terrorism  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  law enforcement