Multimodal Biometric App Aimed At Helping Vulnerable Youth

Miami-based IT consultant NEORIS has been contracted by Spain-based NGO itwillbe.org to develop a biometric app designed for identifying vulnerable youth.

The app concept is dubbed PPa, for Protection People app, with the idea being that it would function on any mobile device or desktop and use a combination of fingerprint, facial, and palm vein or hand geometry biometrics to identify individuals in vulnerable social groups such as migrants and refugees. And according to a statement announcing the project, there’s already an NGO signed up to start using the system: Don Bosco, an international organization dedicated to child welfare, will use it to identify unaccompanied minors in India starting in February of next year, with the biometric data to “be submitted online to an existing local partner database for immediate identification” – possibly getting an assist from Aadhaar, the country’s national biometric ID program, though this was not specified in the organizations’ statement and remains speculation.

Elaborating on the project, Don Bosco explained that in India “there are 10 million minors living on the streets in extreme conditions, without any safety nets and exposed to countless risks,” adding that its use of the app, dubbed “Child PPa” in this case, will help outreach workers to follow up with kids in need.

The project emerges as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also seeks to leverage biometric identification to help track and assist vulnerable populations.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)