EC launches €12m Euro-ID research project

The EC and Switzerland are to spend €12m to test technologies and attitudes for a community-wide architecture for identity verification as part of an e-government initiative.

BT, Siemens and Visa will be leading a group of 23 organisations called Guide (Government User Identity for Europe) that will be examining the technology and the social and political barriers to a system.

Project director Lia Borthwick, from BT, said: "It is multidisciplinary and we will be looking at the wider social/political issues and the opponents of certain types of identity tokens. In Hungary, for instance, the constitution forbids a single identity card. But Spain already has national and regional biometric ID cards."

The first phase of the exercise will consist of a roadshow held at ministerial level in all 25 member states and a series of trials.

BT will be demonstrating a voice-print biometric that will enable about 1,000 students at the University of Surrey School of Management to get their exam results by phone. Borthwick said: "They have a large number of foreign students so it will be tested on a range of accents."

Siemens will be demonstrating an administration-to-administration link between two Swiss cantons, which are mini-states that have separate laws and administrations.

Visa will also be using its Verifiable Visa to authenticate individuals through its member banks.

After an 18-month initial phase in which Guide will be looking at the range of existing technology and other nascent technologies, the consortium will carrying out a further 18-month validation programme.

The third phase is less precise but Borthwick said: "We aim to be able to produce something analogous to an electricity grid. You know it's there, and when you want to use it, you just plug your appliance in.

"It's a challenge that I think we can meet."