Northern Europe’s NOBID Digital ID Project Plans to Use Biometric Onboarding

The Nordic-Baltic eID Project (NOBID) will likely use biometric onboarding, a technology partner has confirmed.

The project, announced last week, represents a six-nation effort to develop a digital identity wallet that can be used across the borders of European Union countries. Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, and Norway are participating in the NOBID project, with technology partners including Thales, Signicat, RB, Auðkenni, IPZS, Poste Italiane, Intesi Group, InfoCert, FBK, Latvian State Radio and Television Centre, and iProov.

The latter company is well known as a vendor of selfie-based onboarding technology, which enables an end user to confirm their identity using a mobile device by uploading a selfie photo along with images of their physical identity document. Face biometrics are used to match the selfie to the ID, and liveness detection is in place to ensure that the genuine user is present during the selfie process.

While NOBID did not detail any plans for how its digital identity wallet would verify users, an iProov representative has confirmed to FindBiometrics that “if the pilot gets funded, iProov’s technology will be involved in the secure onboarding of users,” adding that the latter includes “face biometric authentication and verification technology.”

iProov is perhaps particularly well known in Europe, having been ranked 57th in the Financial Times‘ FT 1000 list for the continent earlier this year. It has garnered considerable attention across the pond, too, both through a trade secrets lawsuit filed by US-based FaceTec near the start of the year, and a $70 million investment from the Silicon Valley VC firm Sumeru Equity Partners, announced around the same time.

NOBID’s likely use of iProov’s biometric technology for end user verification suggests that the same technology is likely to be used in the European Union’s planned digital wallet, a project with which NOBID is aiming for close alignment. iProov obtained Level of Assurance High (“LoA High”) certification with respect to the eIDAS regulation earlier this summer; eIDAS is designed to ensure the security and efficiency of communications across the European Union, and is of critical importance with respect to the development of the EU’s digital ID wallet and any other such programs under development among member states.

In any case, how the technology is used in the NOBID project should soon become clear. A timeline for the pilot has not been announced, but REWE Group, a German prominent German retailer, and Elkjøp, a major consumer electronics chain in the Nordic countries, have already signed on to participate in the trial.

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September 19, 2022 – by Alex Perala