The market-savvy researchers at Research and Markets have released a new report on the global electronic passport and visa market, and they predict that it’s set to grow at a rate of 30.17 percent (CAGR) between 2014 and 2019. Biometrics technology is, of course, an increasingly important component of such documents, and the researchers point to fingerprint, facial, and iris recognition as key modalities in this area.In the report, the researchers highlight a couple of key factors driving market growth. One is simply an increase in cross-border travel; another is a trend of increasing adoption of hybrid smart cards on the part of various governments.
Many governments around the world are interested in biometric technology for security screening, of course, and e-passports and e-visas are in important component of such efforts. India has been a pioneer in this area with its Aadhaar program, while Australia has been tentatively looking into the idea of a similar project. Meanwhile, the European Union has mandated certain requirements on its member states with respect to cross-border migration, and that has led countries like Ukraine to also hop onto the e-passport bandwagon.
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January 15, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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