Day two of the Biometric MENA Summit 2021 was opened by the Managing Director at Verve Management, Sabah Parvez, and was followed by a welcoming note by the Group COO, National Medical Center, Dr. Mohammad Junaid, who was the Chairperson of the day.
Dr. Hamad Khalifa, Telecommunications specialist, Abu Dhabi Police – UAE, shared his expertise on smart and safe settings in biometric challenges. He stated that the government and private sectors have shifted their focus to the cloud and Digital Transformation, highlighting the importance of biometrics in all sectors and industries and not just limited to central banks and banking industry. Dr. Hamad further spoke on how the International Airports in UAE are using face recognition and Emirates ID which allows people to go through without waiting in line for immigration.
Mohammad Junaid, Group COO from National Medical Centre – Saudi, moderated a panel discussion which involved esteemed speakers like Mr. Jaleel Rahiman from Prime Healthcare Group, Shuvankumar Pramanick from Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd and Muhammad Shahid Iqbal Khan from International Medical Center. The panellists talked about the benefits of biometrics and how biometrics are the future of patient care. Jaleel spoke about UAE Pass, which is a combination of Emirates ID and biometrics, and how it can be used to avoid duplication of patient files. The panellists agreed that the quality of patient care is determined by the quality of the infrastructure. Passwords are difficult to remember so a biometric authenticator can be used by the patient for logging in.
Dr. Hamad Khalifa from Abu Dhabi Police and Mohamad Al Agha from Abu Dhabi Ports Company discussed innovation in law enforcement and travel tourism and how biometrics are driving efficiency in modern policing. Dr. Hamad explained the meaning of the word ‘biometrics’, Bio in Greek language means “Life” and metric means “Measurement”. He stated that without biometrics, law enforcement would not be as successful as it is today. Mohamad started by saying that biometrics as a technology is impacting many industries and the travel industry is one of them. Travel is a regulated industry. He also highlighted how smart gates have evolved the process of crossing borders and most of the passports nowadays are biometrics enabled.
Ramzi Saboury, General Manager, MENA – ZWIPE – Lebanon, gave a presentation on how the Zwipe Strategy in MENA is paving the way for an era of next-gen biometric payment. Ramzi stated that Zwipe has the latest generation biometric card. Zwipe is focusing on the MENA region because of the diversified markets and emerging markets for innovation.
Ahmad Ibrahim, Head of Product Engineering, Ascertia, shared his expertise on qualified electronic signatures without in-person identity proofing using biometrics with face verification. Ahmad talked about the journey towards the rollout of qualified electronic signatures. A qualified electronic signature is a type of electronic signature providing the highest level of assurance from a legal perspective. He explained why identity proofing for qualified electronic signature is essential. The identity proofing process is used to confirm personal identity attributes of the applicant, It is generally based on the collection, validation and verification of evidence.
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