When is comes to identification on a national level, the landscape is changing at an incredible rate. At the tip of the spear are electronic identity credentials that are being used to do far more than just prove an identity. In an attempt to better understand the macro-level trends and underlying dynamics, throughout 2015 re:ID will explore eID initiatives on a region-by-region basis. First stop, Europe.

Cryptomathic is calling for new European Union standards to recognize cloud-based digital signature schemes; TSA’s PreCheck passes 1 million enrollees; HID Global announced the commercial availability of HID Trusted Tag Solutions; and Bell ID announced that recent growth of host card emulation has seen the company strengthen its global position in the mobile payments market.

Gemalto will deliver its Sealys eID card and Coesys Issuance solution to the Ministry of Interior of Uruguay for the country’s eID program; NEC Corporation of America announced that it was awarded a multi-year biometrics service contract with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The Sesames Awards were gives out at the start of the 2014 CARTES Secure Connexions conference in Paris. The only company to win more than one award was Syniverse in the Retail/Loyalty and Trusted Internet/Authentication categories.

Nigeria wants to help its citizens get access to banking services with its electronic identification card. The contact smart card includes and EMV application and is secure with PKI and biometrics.

The Federal Republic of Somalia launched two new citizen ID programs: a new national ID card and e-passport. The ID documents and supporting solutions were designed and implemented by an association of Oman’s Al Madina Group, a security printer and systems integrator; Ebtikart Smart System, a solution provider with presence in Somalia; and HID Global.

The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China originally deployed at Bell ID system to issue contact smart cards in 2002 but had upgraded and made the switch to contactless cards. Bell ID’s Identity Token Manager is a hardware and software independent, web-based software solution that enables issuers of chip-based identity cards, […]

NXP Semiconductors N.V. and AGETO will be presenting a new NFC capability for national ID cards, enabling German citizens to benefit from the advantages of the country’s new personal identity cards. Using NXP’s SmartMX technology, which is embedded in the cards and the AGETO eID client, citizens can use their cards wirelessly with NFC-capable mobile […]

The global government biometrics market is expected to be worth $6.9 billion by 2024, almost doubling from the $3.6 billion in 2014, according to report from MarketResearchReports.com. E-passport and national identity card programs underway in various countries are driving government spending on biometrics. The U.S. and European nations including the UK, Germany, France and other […]

Citizens registering for the China Resident Identity Card can use DigitalPersona’s TouchChip TCS1 silicon sensor fingerprint readers. The Ministry of Public Security under general technical requirements GA/T 1011-2012 has certified the sensors for the China Resident Identity Card. As of Jan. 2012, the new China Resident Identity Card Law requires citizens to have their fingerprints […]