The European Association for Biometrics has established a collaboration body that aims to foster a “golden age” of biometric technology through deeper cooperation between European research institutes, industry and end users.

The EAB said  the EAB-CITeR Consortium will be based on a model developed by the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), a US-based mission to advance identification technology.

At a yearly meeting, research institutes will present proposals to an EAB-CITeR selection committee consisting of end users and companies through a 10-minutes elevator pitch, supported by a brief description of objectives, outcomes and methods.

“Through this multidisciplinary environment, it is expected that organisations will enjoy a golden age of biometric development, leading to rapid improvements in current biometric technology and the realization of novel technologies for operational use”.

The EAB-CITeR Consortium will be operated by the Swiss Center for Biometrics Research and Testing,  and chaired by Dr Sebastien Marcel.

“The EAB-CITeR is a major initiative for European research in biometrics and related identification technologies, “ said Marcel. “If successful as in the US, the EAB-CITeR will provide a full scale of research opportunities in parallel of existing programmes.”

The research will be funded by affiliates through a yearly fee. In return they receive a vote at the selection committee meetings and rights for further development and exploitation of the research results.

Alexander Nouak, chairman of the EAB, said: “The EAB has an excellent position to develop such a major European initiative. Having over 160 members coming from industry, academia, research institutes and end users we have the critical mass to build out the EAB-CITeR Consortium towards a successful pan European cooperation. The ultimate goal is to carry out high quality research, to train talented engineers and researchers, and to foster technology transfer”.