SITA Escalates Support for Sovrin Foundation

“…SITA framed it as an important step forward with respect to Smart Path, its project aimed at establishing a universal, biometric identity token recognized by airports, airlines, and governments around the world.”

SITA has become a Premium Donor of the Sovrin Foundation, announcing the move as an affirmation of its commitment to develop a new digital identity framework for air travel.

Launched in 2016, the Sovrin Foundation is a non-profit that tasked itself with building a a blockchain-based digital identity platform on a global scale. The identity platform is envisioned as a kind of public utility, with no one central authority administrating it – hence Sovrin’s idea of “self-sovereign identity”.

In announcing its support for the Foundation, SITA framed it as an important step forward with respect to Smart Path, its project aimed at establishing a universal, biometric identity token recognized by airports, airlines, and governments around the world. Smart Path technology, which is based on the use of facial recognition, has now seen multiple early airport deployments; and in a statement SITA explained that “the shift in focus in the next few years will see Smart Path integrated with self-sovereign identity, controlled by the individual and usable across governments, airports and airlines, streamlining the travel process even further.”

SITA became a Founding Steward of the Sovrin Foundation back in 2018. Now, as a Premium Donor, the organization will “take a more active role” in supporting the organization.

Elaborating on the move, SITA Lab Director Gustavo Pina explained that the development of a universal digital identity to replace passports will deliver benefits including “a reduced arrivals infrastructure, providing new opportunities to increase existing airport throughput by design and not expansion.” He added, “Our work with the Sovrin Foundation will play an important role in unlocking that potential.”

The announcement arrives after the Sovrin Foundation launched a public trial of a new cryptocurrency platform in February.

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May 21, 2020 – by Alex Perala