1. What is the mission and vision of AIT?
The AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) is a professional non-profit RTO enterprise focusing on the key infrastructure topics of the future. AIT provides research and technological development to realize basic innovations for the next generation of infrastructure-related technologies in the fields of digital safety and security, energy, health and bioresources, low-emission transport, vision, automation and control, technology experience, and innovation systems and policy.
Dedicated to serving governments, operators of all kinds of critical infrastructure and its industrial suppliers, AIT bridges the gap between research and technology commercialization, which is a key aspect of developing new technologies and enabling an economic boom.
2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?
Full digitization of businesses is key to holding one’s ground in global competition. Customers will select those services that provide maximal efficiency and usability while ensuring full data security. Day-to-day news about data breaches makes customers feel insecure. The winners will be those companies that manage to establish and maintain a maximum level of trust for generally accepted applications.
Some emerging markets strongly rely on biometrics as the basic or even single way of personal identification. Trust in the corresponding identity management processes is key for the secure operation of access control to services in everyday life.
3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does your organization address challenges associated with this transformation?
Digital identity will introduce huge opportunities for new business processes and at the same time pose tremendous threats regarding security and privacy. Any new application must bring along the appropriate security level. New business models must come hand-in-hand with trusted security features. Again, being able to fulfill the requirements of a convenient application and a high level of trust will be key criteria for success or failure in business. Global competition will select the winners.
AIT addresses exactly these challenges by investigating and piloting innovative methods and tools for ensuring the required security of the biometric applications of tomorrow.
4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in this space?
Any community aiming at leadership should act as a promoter and supporter of innovations in identity management processes and involve all market participants, from private customers to governmental administrations. In parallel, it should prioritize efforts for the broad implementation of efficient, convenient, and secure identity management processes in all forms of business.
5. Why did your organization join the DIACC?
DIACC’s goals and agenda fit perfectly to the AIT mission of realizing basic innovations for the next generation of infrastructure-related technologies in the fields of digital safety and security. AIT is interested and prepared to contribute to advancing Canada’s digital economy agenda with innovative biometric solutions and secure identity management processes.
6. What else should we know about your organization?
In the area of digital identity management, AIT experts investigate new technologies in the field of biometrics (high convenience, contactless, at a distance, multimodal approaches, privacy-preserving, highly secure, mobile), showcase those technologies to interested end-users as well as to companies working B2B, and are involved in or lead national and European applied research projects. The present focus is on contactless biometrics including fingerprints and 2D/3D face for person identification and identity verification and secure identity management processes. AIT seeks partners to a) incubate end-users and industry with novel identity management solutions, b) enable small and medium-sized prototypes and pilots, c) distribute and roll out its biometric technologies, and d) build new connections into North America’s scientific community.