Development of a mobile biometric system to solve identification and verification challenges in developing countries

The ability to identify individuals accurately and reliably is an essential condition for providing quality health, finance, and government services. In developing nations the lack of reliable identification methods is a major factor impeding the delivery of such services. The past 10 years have seen rapid expansion of mobile phone penetration in emerging economies. This shift has powered a rising wave of ingenious mobile health, finance, and governance platforms designed to do everything from mobile medical diagnostics to opening digital bank accounts. Despite this huge potential, client identification and authentication remains a key bottleneck in expanding the reach of such mobile services in developing nations, especially with the many users who lack any form of government ID. SimPrints provides a solution to this problem by linking clients to records through their fingerprints. While mobile biometric scanners in devices such as the iPhone 5S are penetrating developed markets, these systems are far too expensive for mass use in developing nations. Leveraging research from the University of Cambridge, SimPrints aims to develop a novel fingerprint scanning system that works with existing mobile applications to provide users with biometric tools at a fraction of the cost of current systems.