The IT security company Verisec has had two applications for innovation grants granted by Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation authority. The support is provided within the framework of the call for proposals “Digital security and reliability – Theme: identity and block chains”. The two projects that were granted financial support are innovations within physical identification with e-ID and electronic identification for profession- and workplace related purposes.
Verisec receives a total of SEK 2.1 million in state support for two projects in experimental development that may revolutionize how Swedes identify themselves, both as a private person and at work.
“Digital carrier of physical ID” is one of Verisec’s development projects that have been granted. In a society where the digital and physical world cross each other’s domains, there is an enhanced need for a secure e-ID that prove the user’s identity both online and in the physical world. In the long term, this can give major social benefits, not least to counter fraud. Easily falsified ID documents is a major reason to the major increase in fraud in recent years.
The second project that was granted support is “eID in the workplace” to address the lack of a scalable solution for an eID for workers in the public sector. Today, private e-IDs are used by the staff in many areas of the public sector, which do not meet basic requirements for integrity. The project will develop a solution for digital identification that in a new and innovative way creates opportunities for officials to identify themselves based on their professional role instead of their personal identity.
Johan Henrikson, CEO Verisec comments:
“I am very proud that two of our projects was granted support in this call for proposals, in fierce competition with a total of 55 different applications. Verisec is at the forefront of ID-tech and that Sweden’s innovation authority Vinnova supports our projects is an acknowledgment that our innovations really keep a high level. The success is being determined by how well it works in reality, but that is the point of experimental development. If you know the outcome from the beginning, it is not an experiment. But I have the feeling that we are on the right path here. Everything that can be digitized will be digitized, and anyone who believes that pieces of plastic – that are easy to falsify – are excluded from this fact doesn’t have enough faith in development.”
